The Conqueror of the Wizarding World
by stalkerace
Summary: How far would you go for the ones you love? Would you die for them? Would you kill for them? Would you destroy the whole world for them? H/Hr.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**THE CONQUEROR OF THE WIZARDING WORLD**

**PROLOGUE**

**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**May 3, 1998 CE**

It was finally over.

For more than seven years, the young man who stood in the middle of the destroyed front foyer of the greatest magical school in the world had lived under the shadow of this Dark Lord, but now, it was finally over.

Harry James Potter, the boy-who-lived, had finally become the boy-who-won. Less than twenty four hours had passed since the banner of the dark side had fallen with the death of their leader, and already, the surviving forces of the light side are preparing to celebrate, and no one can blame them, for they had finally managed to see the sun rise after a very dark night.

The people who are about to celebrate, however, had forgotten one crucial thing about shining light. Sure, it might provide light, but where there is light, there would always be shadow, and Harry was not going to fool himself into thinking that the defeat of the Dark Lord Voldemort would be the end of the dark side.

Standing from his four-poster bed in his old dorm room in Gryffindor tower, the seventeen year old lad – a young man already, and already an adult in the magical world – walked toward a window cut into the cold stone that make up the walls of the tower that was his home for more than six years.

Stopping in front of the window, he smiled fondly as he remembered that this was where, during his third year, he had seen his godfather – in his animagus form, of course – sneaking into the castle with the help of the familiar of the girl who is, unquestionably, the most important person in the life of the young man.

Thinking about Sirius – his godfather – and Hermione – that girl whom Harry wants to spend the rest of his life with – made the young man sad and happy at the same time.

Sad because of Sirius, for the death of the one man who had accepted Harry and would have sacrificed – and had sacrificed – his life to protect him had always rankled Harry, even if it had happened more than two years ago. With a sad sigh to himself, Harry told himself that he may never recover from that death.

At the same time, he felt happy because of Hermione. She was and is the only person in the world who would sacrifice everything for him. With Remus gone, Hermione was all that is left of the people whom Harry can trust with all his heart. A fond smile came across the face of the boy-who-lived as he remembered what she had said just last evening, before he went to confront Voldemort.

'_I'll go with you_,' she had said, and even up till now, it rang in the ears of Harry, warming him up with an emotion he cannot fully explain. He was sure of one thing, though, and that is he is sure that his patronus can destroy all the dementors in the world if he uses that unexplainable feeling deep within him.

A frown came across the face of Harry as he watched a family of three walk along the narrow field of vision offered by the window through which Harry was staring. Draco Malfoy and his parents are probably on their way home, having spent the night in the castle.

It was ironic that the three are being allowed to walk out of the castle when the patriarch – Lucius Malfoy – was one of the highest ranking members of the Death Eaters, and Draco Malfoy was the one who had allowed numerous Death Eaters into the castle just last year, resulting to the death of Headmaster Dumbledore.

Unconsciously, Harry's palms turned into fists as he silently watched the family of three walk away from Hogwarts. Remembering the theme of the rising sun that he was thinking about a few moments ago, he frowned as he reminded himself that even now, just as the sun is still rising, already, there are those who are preparing – and are already prepared – to thrive in the shadows.

Harry has no illusions of grandeur, but he knew for a fact that when the next Dark Lord rears his ugly head, the people of Magical Britain would turn their heads to him once again. Was that not how life was for Dumbledore? After defeating his former friend in Germany and imprisoning him, was he allowed the chance to rest on his laurels?

With a scoff to himself, Harry turned his attention away from the window and toward his bed just as the Malfoy family disappeared from sight, 'Of course not,' the young man told himself, 'when Tom started to wreak havoc in Britain, the people turned toward him, it had always been the cycle'

A polite cough from behind him caused Harry to turn his attention away from his bed and to the direction where the disturbance came from. A smile – a genuine smile, not the fake ones that he had been forced to wear since his victory – came across his face as he regarded the one person Harry would do anything to protect.

It was strange that when he first met her, Hermione Granger had not really been a friend of Harry. She was more of an irritating presence during the first month that Harry had lived in this castle, but after rescuing her during his first Halloween in Hogwarts, they had become inseparable.

Indeed, they had become so close, there are times when they can actually finish each other's sentences, or even communicate without really using words, merely glances and body actions.

As he thought about it, however, Harry realized that perhaps the reason that he had not tried to make a friend in Hermione when he first met her was because of Ronald Weasley. It was ironic, Harry considered, that Ron and Hermione are now dating, and that the two of them had actually shared a kiss before the final battle last night.

It was a memory that rankled Harry, how he wanted to punch Ron in the face and throw him off of the highest tower of Hogwarts without the benefit of a broom or parachute, but with Hermione in front of Harry, it was easy for him to control his emotions and maintain the smile on his face.

"I thought I would find you here," Hermione said. Her voice vibrated around the dorm and Harry's smile broadened as he allowed his ears to swim in the sound made by Hermione's voice, "What were you doing here?"

Even though Hermione was very close to nagging – one of the unfortunate habits of Hermione that Ron had confided to Harry he wants to change – Harry did not frown, instead, his smile just broadened, but seeing the look on the face of Hermione – which indicated that she was about to launch into a tirade – Harry answered, "I was just thinking, and I needed to be away from the crowd for a while," he replied, he walked toward his bed and sat at the edge of his mattress before he motioned for Hermione to join him.

Her eyebrows raised themselves at the action, but after a few moments, she smiled and nodded before he sat beside Harry. Without either of them really thinking about it, their hand found themselves in each grasping each other, their fingers intertwined, as they both stared ahead.

After a few moments, Harry realized where his hand is, but instead of withdrawing, he tightened his grip on Hermione's hand, an action that, unfortunately, made Hermione aware of where her hand is. Instantly, she tried to remove her hand, but found it trapped under the gentle but strong grip of Harry.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, "What are you doing?"

Harry smiled at her, "I told you, Hermione," he replied easily, "I had been thinking," and before Hermione can say anything else, Harry added, "I had been thinking what I would do with my life now that it is finally over, the things that I want to do, the things that I would do," he smiled as he regarded Hermione, "When you are utterly convinced that you would not survive, you tend not to plan ahead"

Hermione nodded, sympathizing. Unconsciously, her head tilted to the side – toward Harry – and she would have found her head lying on his shoulder had she not recognized what she was about to do. She blinked as she realized this, and missed the frown on the face of Harry.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but before she can push words out of her lips, Harry cut her off by opening his, and from how he was speaking – fast – it was obvious that Harry had been thinking about how to say what he was about to say, "Let's leave Hermione," he suddenly said, "we can go to Australia and be with your parents, or we can travel the world together, or whatever it is that you want to do, just so long as you are by my side, I do not really care," he paused as he saw the shocked expression on the face of Hermione, but before she can say anything, he continued, "Please."

"Harry," Hermione said gently, she removed his hand from hers using her other hand and she grasped both of his hands with hers as she stared at him, "We can't," she said.

"Why?" Harry asked, pulling his hands away from hers. Without warning, he stood up and stared at Hermione as he demanded an answer, "Why?" he repeated, "Is it because of Ron?"

Hermione tensed as she heard that dreaded question. She stared at her best friend for a few moments and more as she asked herself if she was again being asked who is more important to her life, her best friend or her boyfriend? She had been forced to choose once before and had made her choice.

She turned her attention toward Harry and wondered if he ever really realized whom he had chosen. Trying to bite back tears that threatened to consume her, she turned her attention away from Harry just as he tried to reach for her.

She quickly removed herself from within the range of his grasp, however, and it surprised her that he did not attempt to catch her. She paused as she realized this and turned her attention toward Harry, but before she can ask her question, Harry practically growled as he said, "It is Ron"

Hermione wanted to correct Harry, but there was something about the tone of his voice that made her confrontational and not eager to admit to anything, she stomped her foot and, without a single word, she fled the scene.

The sound of Hermione stomping her foot on the landings of the stairs echoed around Harry, piercing the uncomfortable sound that descended around the Gryffindor boys dorm, and causing Harry to turn toward himself until finally, that sound too, was gone.

Clenching his fist, Harry turned his attention toward where Hermione had gone and before he knew it, he was speaking to himself, "I swear Hermione," Harry said in a low voice, a tone of voice that, if anyone was around him, would have caused quite a commotion given the darkness lacing his words, "I swear I would have you by my side"

**Unknown Location**

**Unknown Location**

**May 3, 1998 CE**

The only light piercing the pitch black darkness surrounding the two men were two rather primitive torches made of wood, animal oil, and a few scattering of cheap metals.

Both men were wearing heavy dark cloaks making it hard to discern not only their identity, but also their gender. It was clear that they were both men, however, for the sound of their voices indicates so.

"It has began," one of them said, "The Conqueror is rising"

The other man scoffed, "Whatever," he replied, his hands moved in such a fashion that suggested that he was bored, "I know my job, the question is, would you uphold your end of the bargain?"

Laughter greeted the words of the other man, but it was not laughter that would have made others laugh with him, for the laugh that echoed around the darkness was one of pure darkness and malevolence that even his companion shivered, "I know my end of the bargain, do your job and I would give you what you want," he replied.

There was a pause of a few moments before the first man suddenly asked, "You do realize that if you do your job properly, you would be condemning this world?"

This second man scoffed once more before he turned his attention away from the first and started to walk away, never missing a step despite the darkness. After a few seconds, the second man stopped and turned his attention toward the first, "I know," he admitted, before a faint smile cut through the darkness, "but there are far more important things than just the world, you, of all people, mortal or otherwise, should know that"

**ONE**

**Diagon Alley**

**London, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

Ministry of Magic Department of Magical Law Enforcement Senior Auror Ronald Bilius Weasley fought the urge to wipe non-existent sweat from his face using his right hand as he continued to walk toward the designated disapparition point located near one of the entrances to the magical alley from muggle London.

Sure, a person can disapparate whenever and wherever he wants, but the senior auror of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement believed in setting a good example. In any case, he felt the need to use the disapparition point – which, because of the ambient magic surrounding it, would allow him to use less energy in his disapparition – even if he wanted nothing more but to drop in his bed and sleep.

It had been a wonderfully exacting shift for him and his team in the office. Turning his attention toward the middle of the Alley, a slight smile appeared on the face of Ron as he saw the statue of Albus Dumbledore erected there. The Ministry of Magic had decided to pay tribute to the former Headmaster of Hogwarts and one of the foremost leaders of the last war by building a life size statue of the man in the middle of the one location in Magical Britain that every magical person goes to.

Frowning slightly, Ron turned his attention toward the empty space beside the statue of the former headmaster. From the scuttlebutt inside the Ministry, it was clear that a statue of Harry Potter was supposed to be placed in that spot, but the disappearance of the man who actually won the Blood War had put an end to that proposal.

Thinking about his best mate, the leader of the aurors of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement cannot help but frown. It had been more than ten years since the last anyone had seen of Harry, and even that last reported sighting was nothing but an unconfirmed sighting – and the fact that it was in the middle of muggle London had made most citizens of Magical Britain dismiss it as nothing more but a hoax, after all, Harry Potter is a wizard, why would he waste his time with the muggles?

Ron continued to walk toward the designated disapparition point, trying his best not to divert from the course despite the fact that his stomach was rumbling and he was walking through some of the finest restaurants in magical Britain, establishments that, coincidentally, Ron had promised when he was younger he would dine in.

A smile came across the face of the thirty two year old senior auror as he thought about home and the food that was waiting for him. At the same time, however, a frown came across his face.

His home was a two bedroom flat in Devonshire, near Plymouth, and he lives alone. The frown on the face of Ron widened as he thought about the spare bedroom in his flat. Despite his best efforts, Hermione had resisted his proposals that they live together. A dark frown came across the face of Ron as he reminded himself that Hermione refusing to move in with him was not the only proposal that Hermione had been rejecting from Ron.

He had first proposed to Hermione that they get married right after the end of the Battle of Hogwarts, but Hermione had refused as she planned on returning to school for her seventh and final year. Personally, Ron does not get it, after all, then Minister of Magic – Kingsley Shacklebolt – had promised everyone who had taken part in the Battle of Hogwarts free passes into the Auror Office. Ron had been one of the few who had taken the free pass after realizing that he would not be able to find a better job offer on account of the fact that he missed his seventh year.

Still, Ron – coached by his sister – decided to drop insisting that Hermione and him get married as soon as possible, telling Hermione that he would respect her wishes and wait for another year before he again proposes to her. Back then, Hermione just smiled and nodded, which made Ron believe that Hogwarts is the only thing that was blocking his way to his happy ending.

Of course, that time was a bust too as Hermione shook her head while he knelt before her in the middle of a bloody muggle restaurant – Ginny had said that proposing to Hermione in a very public setting would block her from saying 'no' – much to the embarrassment of Ron, who had to endure the pitying looks coming from the muggle patrons as Hermione hurriedly excused herself.

Since then, it had been year after year after year of proposing to no avail. Ron had nearly cried the last time that he tried to propose to Hermione, but once more, she shook her head and made some excuses about her as not yet ready for marriage.

The frown on the face of Ron deepened as he remembered the last conversation that he had with his sister in regards to another failed proposal. Ginny had opined that perhaps the reason that Hermione had refused Ron's constant proposals is because she was still pinning for Harry.

A violent look crossed the face of Ron as he thought about that, and he had to consciously stop himself from kicking the nearest garbage bin as he thought about how Harry was blocking his way to Hermione despite the fact that no one in magical Britain had seen Harry for more than ten years.

"Excuse me, young sir," a voice to the side of Ron caused the senior auror to pause in his steps and turn his attention toward that direction.

The hood that the person seated next to the road was wearing made it difficult for Ron to describe the person; he cannot even tell if the person is a man or a woman. Countless times, Ron had encountered people like this, and most of the time, they want to kill him. It made him wary about trusting these kinds of people, especially considering the fact that his danger sense was screaming at him that this unknown person is dangerous, but despite this, the senior auror of the Ministry still found himself drawn to this person.

"You look a little beat," the unknown person said, and the voice coming from beneath the hood changed tones so that instead of the dreary voice that Ron would have paired with an old woman, the voice now coming from beneath the hood was that of a young girl, "Maybe you would be less beat if I were to grant you one wish?"

Ron scoffed, "Nice try little girl," he replied, his frown, however, disappeared and was replaced by a smile as he regarded the still cloaked and seated person in front of him, "I doubt if you could really grant me my wish"

That seemed to be the wrong word to say, because the moment that the words left the mouth of Ron, the cloaked figure stood. The person was most probably a girl, so Ron decided that she was a girl, and she stood nearly at the same height as him, which seemed impossible given that she did not appear to be that tall when she was seated.

Her voice had changed once again, from the tone that Ron would associate with a little girl to a tone of voice that Ron had only heard once before in his life, a tone that even now, more than ten years after his mother had killed that person, still makes his knees buckle in fear, "I'll have you know that I have never had a customer complain before," she said, "Whatever your wish is, I will grant it."

Ron stared at this still cloaked woman with incredulity written in his face. He imagined her staring back at him, and the two of them faced off in a staring competition for a few moments, before Ron finally got tired of it – and his stomach was still complaining – and raised his hands in surrender, "Fine," he replied in an exasperated tone, "I do have a wish"

"Then tell Emma what your wish is," the girl replied, the tone of her voice once again resuming to that of a little girl, "And Emma would do her best to grant you your one wish,"

Ron fixed this young girl – Emma – a look of incredulity before he tried to think of a wish. There are many things in life that Ron wanted and he could never figure out what he truly wanted was. There was, however, one thing that he could not get no matter how hard he tried, and he was getting tired of trying, but, he asked himself, can he truly wish for that?

"I want Hermione to say yes," Ron blurted out before he can stop himself, realizing what he had just said, he tried to take it back, but figured that he had already went past the point of no return, so he decided to just go ahead and blurt everything out, "When I propose marriage to her again, I wish she would say yes"

Ron got the distinct impression that Emma was frowning at him from underneath the hood that she was wearing. For a few moments, Ron got the impression that what he had just wished for is something that even this girl who prides herself in fulfilling every wish that she had came across.

Ron was about to turn away from the girl, his hand rising to wave goodbye to the girl when he suddenly saw her shake her head, "I am afraid," the young girl said, "that what you wish for is impossible, for even with my powers, love is not something that just magically appears."

"Thank you for your time then," Ron replied, biting back an angry remark that was about to launch from his mouth as he considered how this girl had delayed him from his food and sleep, "I am sure that you would find someone who would fool for your tricks again," and so saying, Ron raised his hand and waved goodbye to the girl.

Ron was about to turn his attention away from the girl when her right hand suddenly shot underneath her robes. Ron was instantly alert and had his wand in his hand and pointed at the girl within seconds, but when the girl withdrew her hand from under her robes, she was not holding a wand, rather, she was holding what appeared to be a glass container filled with a pinkish-white liquid.

"Love is not something that magically appears, Mr. Weasley," the young girl said, her tone of voice changing once more, this time, to a tone that Ron would have expected from a girl the same age bracket as himself, "but I daresay that this would help you find your way," she said, "simply add four drops in whatever the object of your desire is going to drink and, voila, she is in love with you and would even kill herself rather than be separated from you"

Ron's eyes widened and he pointed his wand straight toward the hidden forehead of the woman in front of him, "This is a love potion?" she asked, just as his peripheral vision saw several citizens averting their gaze away from him or even returning to where they had came from in order to avoid crossing near him.

The woman laughed, and Ron was once more struck by the way that the sounds coming from her were changing, for the laugh was the laughter that Ron would associate with a young girl, before she said, "Silly man," she said, "Not even love potion can create love," she shook her head for emphasis, "_Servus Venenum_", she said.

Ron blinked, having never come across a potion of that name before. A small portion of his mind argued that that is all the more reason for him to believe that this potion now in front of him is a dangerous artifact, but that small portion was quickly silenced by the larger part of his mind that screamed that this is the only way for him to have Hermione.

Tentatively, Ron reached for the potion and after touching it, he quickly pocketed it before turning toward the woman he was holding in wand point, "How much?" he asked.

"No charge," the woman replied, "Keep it, you look like you needed it"

Ron nodded. In his excitement, he forgot that he was trying to set an example and just disapparated right there and then. His action had caused him to miss the emergency healer team deploying from St. Mungo's in response to a frantic alert from a witch who was walking in the Alley with her three children.

In their emergency call, the mother swore that she and her children had seen a man in red auror robes walking toward the disapparition point before he suddenly stopped, regarded an empty piece of real estate and started talking as if he was having a conversation before he drew his wand and threatened the same piece of empty real estate in front of him.

In his excitement, Ron Weasley failed to realize that the woman that he was talking with cannot be seen by anyone else, or the fact that the woman actually called him by his name without him even introducing himself.

**Godric's Hallow Cemetery, Godric's Hallow**

**Cardiff, Wales**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

Hermione Jean Granger stepped pass the low wall that marked the boundary of the cemetery for the people who lived and died in the small magical town. There was a neutral expression on her face as she walked silently toward that place where – many years ago – she and Harry shared a moment that no one else would ever understand.

On her hand, she was carrying a garland made from roses, and an unbidden smile came across her face as she remembered the first time that she had visited this place. They were on the run back then, popping all over the country to search for the means of defeat of a mad man who had seized power. One moment could be their end and that was one of the reasons why that first visit was special, and can never be repeated.

Today, Hermione considered, things are different. No longer is she on the run, in fact, most of the time, she was the one doing the running after, figuratively speaking, of course. After graduating from Hogwarts with top honors, she had applied, and been accepted, into the Ministry of Magic, specifically, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but unlike Ron, who opted for the free pass card to be an auror – a decision that rankled Hermione ever since as she equated it to cheating – she actually fought tooth and nail to be appointed a member of the legal team that makes up the core of the DMLE-Prosecutor Office.

A smile graced the face of the beautiful woman as she considered that in less than ten years, she had been appointed as a senior prosecutor, quite an achievement, especially when one considers the fact that five years after the defeat of Voldemort, the pureblood bigots that make up the majority of the ruling elite of Magical Britain had made their comeback.

Hermione involuntarily grimaced as she reminded herself that she had always had been a thorn in the side of the pureblood movement. She had personally sent more than two dozen Death Eaters to Azkaban and, despite her initial reluctance, had personally sent Rookwood, the Lestrange brothers, and all of those who had already escaped from the prison – with the exception of the Malfoy's whose actions during the Battle of Hogwarts had somehow earned them a pardon – through the Veil.

It was not a long walk from the entrance of the prison to her destination. It was also a path that Hermione was more than familiar with, having walked through this particular downtrodden path every month since the final battle of the war.

The final battle had taken a toll on Hermione; a loss that she would never admit to anyone, for it was that same day when Harry just walked out of her life. She paused as she considered what would have happened had she accepted his proposal that they should just disappear together.

Back then, she had refused. A soft sigh escaped from her lips as she considered that conversation. She had loved Harry, always had, and she knows that she always will, but to just disappear like that was not – in the mind of Hermione – proper. In any case, she was in a relationship with Ron and it would not be proper to just up and disappear on Ron.

Even then, however, Hermione had suspected that she would go nowhere with Ron. When he first proposed, Hermione had excused her 'no' answer with her schooling, but the second time had been considerably harder.

The particular marble grave marker suddenly appeared in front of Hermione, cutting off all of her thoughts as she unconsciously quickened her pace from mild to moderate. Her subconscious was telling her that if she hurried enough, perhaps, she would catch Harry visiting the graves of his parents, but when Hermione finally reached the marker, like always, Harry was not there.

That does not mean that Harry was never there, and the beautiful woman that Hermione had become allowed a smile to grace her face as she regarded the Christmas garland resting on the marble. It was the exact same replica as the one that Hermione was carrying with her, but she knew that there is a reason for that.

Like the garland that Hermione was carrying, the roses lying neatly beside the marker was not bought, it was made, and the smile on her face broadened as she remembered the first time that she had conjured a garland for this grave. A soft sigh escaped from her lips as she considered how long ago it had been since that moment and how she wished that she could once again feel what she had felt during that time; safe, secure, and most important of all, loved beyond any words can describe, by the side of Harry.

Hermione knew for a fact that the two garlands that are now resting side by side on the grave that marks the final resting place of the earthly remains of the parents of Harry Potter would last, at the most, a month, plus or minus a day or two. She also knew that only Harry would lay a garland like the one on the marble slab in front of her, and she took that as a sign that somewhere, the man that she loves is still out there.

Thinking about Harry made Hermione smile. She had almost been expecting Ron to accuse Harry of being the reason why she had never said 'yes' to any of his marriage proposals. Hermione was almost looking forward to admitting to that much, but Ron had matured well during the past years, and had refrained from voicing it out loud. That does not mean that Ron does not blame Harry, for Hermione – whose smile turned into a frown as she thought about it –can see it in the eyes of the red-haired senior auror every time.

"I'm sorry for being late," Hermione said, fixing the cold marble slab a look of fondness even as a smile came across her face, "and I know that it is no excuse, but work had been so heavy lately"

Hermione closed her eyes and imagined James and Lily Potter telling her that it was not a big deal, that it was part of the life that she had chosen, before Harry would interrupt and pretend to frown as he complained that she was spending more time with her work than with him, and that he is becoming jealous of her work.

Hermione opened her eyes as the smile on her face turned from happy to sad. She considered it ironic that she considered two dead people as her parents-in-law, but the more she thought about it, the more that she realized that it was not that far-fetched. For Hermione is sure that, unlike Molly Weasley, who was still insisting that Hermione quit her job so that she can stay at home and raise any children she would have with Ron, Lily Potter would just encourage her to be the best that she can be.

Hermione shook her head a few moments later, however, removing the smile that had graced her face in reaction to her thinking about sharing Christmas dinner with the Potters at their home not far from where she is standing at right now, with Harry by her side, and their children seated with them.

"This might be the last time I would be able to visit you," Hermione said, opening her eyes as she stared at the marble marking the grave, she sighed once before explaining, "I've always wanted a family, and closing my eyes and imagining us all together, you, me, Harry, our children, would never become true no matter how much I wish for it," she smiled bitterly, "After all, you are dead," she thought about adding Harry's disappearing on her, but she refrained from doing so.

"I've made Ron wait long enough," she continued, and this time, there were tears flowing from her chocolate brown eyes as she stared straight into the marble, "He had been waiting for me, and I think it's time to end that," she inhaled as if she was consolidating her strength, though judging from what she was about to announce, that was probably an apt description of her actions, "That's why I've decided," she said, "that the next time he proposes, I am going to accept his proposal"

A sudden release of energy to her side caused Hermione to turn her attention toward that direction. She half-expected to see Harry running over to her and launching into a broadside about her decision to marry Ron, and at this point in time, Hermione would actually have welcomed such an action, but all she saw was an empty piece of land and air.

"It won't be perfect, I know," Hermione said with a bitter laugh, "even before I marry him, I can already see the two of us fighting everyday on the most mundane of subjects, but…," she paused as she thought of a way, a reason, to rationalize her decision to marry Ron. Finding none, she just smiled fondly as she gazed at the stone marking the final resting place of Lily and James, before she ended by saying, "I hope you understand," and so saying, she turned around and quickly walked away, hot tears streaming down her face.

Her actions precluded Hermione from witnessing, at the exact same spot where she had detected the sudden release of energy, a relatively young man just appearing out of nowhere, a cloak made of some shiny silver material hanging from his shoulders.

His green eyes first fixed themselves on the path where Hermione had just disappeared to, and for a few moments, he was tempted to run after her, but iron will and self-control won out in the end, and Harry James Potter stood like a statue at where he was standing.

He just stood there for a few moments, his fist clenching and unclenching, before he finally averted his gaze and turned toward the grave marker. He remembered the first time that he had stood here, with Hermione's head resting on his shoulders even as the two of them unconsciously held the other. It had been so long, and Harry wanted nothing more but to experience that again.

"I know what she said, I heard it as well," Harry said, imagining his parents launching into a sermon that would have put Molly to shame, "I've also been in and around the magical world, I know what is happening, but I swear to you, I will not allow anyone not named Harry James Potter from having Hermione Granger," and without another word, Harry disappeared with a faint pop, leaving nothing on the cemetery, but the two identical Christmas garlands that somehow found themselves touching each other as they rested on the grave marker.

**PROJECT 13A102 OPERATION HERMIONE **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**TWO**

**Potter Manor**

**Kent, England**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

The faint pop of apparition echoed around the foyer as Harry James Potter appeared where but a few moments ago, there had only been thin air. The sound of piano music coming from somewhere near was the first sound that greeted Harry as his senses resumed normal function.

A faint smile came across the face of Harry as he recognized the rather sad opening of the piece, Frederic Chopin's Waltz in A minor. Shaking his head slightly while still holding the faint smile on his face, he made his way out of the front foyer – where he had appeared and the designated apparition point for Potter Manor – and crossed into the main ballroom of the large house.

The main ballroom was a long – about a hundred feet long, twenty five feet wide – hall decorated with expensive looking chandeliers hanging from the twenty feet high ceiling, ornate paintings, some of whom by the very best muggle and magical painters – oddly, none of the paintings hanging from the ballroom are magical, even the portraits, but Harry guessed that the reason for that is because the manor was meant to be used by both muggles and magicals, hence, no overt signs of magic – and a few sculptures, again, some from the very best sculptors from both the muggle and magical world.

The main ballroom also serves as the main access point to any room in the manor as it is the only room where the doors leading to other places in the house are located. While the front foyer is where the guest would enter, the front foyer is nothing more but a large holding room.

Crossing the door-less door frame that is the only way from the front foyer to the main ballroom, Harry immediately suppressed his smile, remembering his lessons from the man that he is about to meet regarding genuine smiles when meeting another person.

Closing his eyes, Harry remembered the exact words used by his last teacher, '_while greeting someone with a smile had always been considered polite and proper, one must also take into consideration the fact that those greeted by a smile would quickly think that there is something that you want from them, after all, nothing is free, and an overt smile would be seen as an indication that you need a favor'_

Opening his eyes, and the smile from his face gone, harry resumed walking, and it was not long before he spotted the grand piano that was on the right hand side of the main ballroom. A man wearing a dark blue suit was seated in front of the piano and, with his eyes closed, his hands were roaming all along the keyboard as he played.

Silently, Harry walked calmly and slowly toward the piano and the man playing on it with the intention of surprising him, but even as he walked, Harry knew that this chosen endeavor was impossible to accomplish and, as if to illustrate that, when he reached within thirty feet of the man, the eyes of the piano player opened.

For a split second, Harry felt terror climb up his spine as he was regarded by the dark brown eyes of the piano player, and the body language of the same man that easily conveyed to Harry that he is going to attack, but that fear quickly vanished as the eyes of the piano player mellowed to warmth and his body language changed to a less aggressive form.

Music – that was interrupted as the piano player regarded Harry – resumed and once more, the notes echoing around the main ballroom. Harry stood impassively with his arms clipped to his side as he waited for the piece to finish and, luckily, the piece was not overly long. The moment that the player was finished, he withdrew his hands from the keyboard and rested them on his lap before the inhaled and exhaled once. After that, he stood and offered his right hand to Harry – with a smile on his face.

Harry shrugged once before he extended his hand to greet the other man. At the same time, he studied his features. He was tall, taller than Harry – who stood at five feet ten inches – but he has the same jet black hair as Harry, and though it has a tendency to point to the right rather than downward, it was at least neater than the ruffled birds nest that is the hair of Harry Potter.

He was wearing a dark blue double breasted suit complete with a gold silk necktie, but even with this, one can easily see that he is powerful. It might have something to do with the fact that while this man is not heavily built, he carried himself with the carriage of a man who is sure of himself and one who would not hesitate to chew anything that try to detain him.

Like Harry, his magical aura was also pulsating, but whereas that of Harry was so powerful, he had to consciously keep it in check; this man has a considerably lower power that precludes him from having to consciously keep it in check.

A smile came across the face of Harry as he once more considered the circumstances on his meeting with this man, Alexander York, but before he can think about that particular morning in Diagon Alley nearly a decade ago, he was interrupted from his thoughts by Alex shaking his hand.

Harry returned the firm handshake a moment later and the two let go of the others hand. For a few moments, silence descended around the main ballroom once more as the two figures studied the other. They had been acquaintances – and some would even say friends – since that morning when they first met in Diagon Alley, but Harry always found the need to guard himself against this man, ironically, the man who was probably most responsible for Harry finding a new purpose in life.

There is just something about Alex that made Harry put up his guard against the man, and the fact that Alex had not been forthcoming about his history before Harry met him was not even something that Harry had considered when he realized that he cannot trust Alex with everything.

His suspicion about Alex had doubled when the older man – for Alex was considerably older than Harry, despite looking as if he is the same age as him – had learned of Harry's suspicion and commended him for it, conceding that yes, Harry should be wary of him.

Fighting back the urge to confront Alex directly, Harry motioned for him to follow him before he turned toward another door-less doorframe that connects the main ballroom with one of the six moderately sized bars that was connected to the main ballroom, without even turning back to see if Alex was following him.

It was also a sign that Harry would trust the other man, even if it is only to a point. If he does not trust Alex, he would never have turned his back on the man, but since that day when they first met, Alex had never acted against the interest of Harry.

A few moments later found the two men seated at the bar, a glass of wine on the surface in front of Alex while an opened bottle of German black beer was resting on the surface in front of Harry.

"I wasn't expecting you till tomorrow," Harry admitted as he played with his already half-filled bottle. He turned his attention toward Alex just in time to see the other man smile as he replaced his wine glass on the surface in front of him.

"There are things that we needed to discuss, and I felt that tomorrow would be too late," Alex said in a somber voice that was surprising considering that the man was already on his fifth glass after just about five minutes, but Alex, Harry knew, is one of the most alcohol-resistant men in the world.

"Does it have something to do with the company?" Harry asked casually, waving his left hand in a so-so fashion before he emptied the bottle in front of him. Placing the now empty bottle in front of him, he waved his right hand and a bottle of beer flew from somewhere within the cellar – which was behind an open door to the right of the bar – and landed in the surface in front of Harry. Another wave of his hand and Harry opened the bottle.

Alex shook his head, "No," he replied simply, smiling as he lifted his goblet through its stem before he drained it. Harry watched in silence, considering the unusual partnership that he has with Alex, and the fact that the two of them – both head of an Ancient and Noble House – was delving in the muggle world and actually owns one of the largest companies in the country and the world.

Harry, however, quickly shifted his thinking from the past to the present, and a frown came across his face as he considered the answer of his business partner. If Alex is here, then that means that there is a problem, but if it has nothing to do with the company, then it has something to do with the other reason why Alex and Harry are partners despite the fact that neither overly trusts the other.

A humorless smile came across the face of Harry as he turned to regard his partner, "What do you have?" he asked.

Alex snapped his finger at that moment and his wine glass refilled itself, stopping only when the glass was nearly overflowing with wine. He turned toward Harry and said, "One of our agents in Diagon Alley had spotted Ronald Weasley this morning," he began, he would have paused for effect, but seeing that Harry was about to scoff at the news, Alex quickly added, "He spoke with a wondering witch who had earned the nickname 'the Fairy Godmother', mostly because she is said to be capable of granting wishes"

"Let me guess," Harry began, his face frowning as he added, "My old 'best mate' wished for riches?"

Alex smiled, "If that was his wish, Harry, I would not even be here," he replied, his smile quickly being overtaken by a frown showing his irritation at being interrupted, he sighed once before continuing, "Ronald Weasley wished for Hermione Granger to say yes when he proposes to her again, but..," Alex quickly added again, "even the Fairy Godmother cannot magic love, so, he was refused"

Harry laughed silently for a few moments. He can almost imagine the tantrum that Ron would put up about the 'unfairness' of the situation. He turned toward Alex and asked, "If that was the case, if my 'best mate' had been refused, then why do we have an emergency?"

Alex sighed, feeling a bit irritated, he quickly added, "Because the Fairy Godmother had a back-up plan and the asset saw her hand Ron a vial of _Servus Venenum_, which is the most powerful potion of its kind in existence"

Harry blinked his smile fading as he racked his mind for a potion by that name. Finding none, he turned toward Alex and asked, "I have never heard of any potion named _Servus Venenum_ before, what does it do?"

"Liquid Imperious Curse," Alex replied simply, his gaze at the surface in front of him where he was playing with the stem of his once more half-empty wine glass. He turned toward Harry and saw the apoplectic rage that was about to erupt from the face of the man who once destroyed the touted most powerful dark lord in history, and quickly added, "You can see why this is an emergency"

Harry forced himself to calm down right after the sound of his beer bottle shattering echoed around the room. He inhaled and exhaled a half dozen times before he finally judged himself calm enough, and turned toward his partner, "Are we prepared?" he asked.

Alex nodded, "We are," he replied, not even bothering to ask what Harry was talking about, "We are just waiting for our word"

Harry nodded, "It is given," he replied simply, surprising Alex and even Harry himself who always thought that the rise of a new Dark Lord would have been accompanied by more pomp than just three words. He stood and Alex quickly followed suit, "Hit the first targets by dinner time tonight," Harry said, and a smile came across his face, "It's time for the Magical World to know the wrath of a true Dark Lord,"

Alex bowed theatrically, "It would be done," he replied, his bow hiding a thin smile that formed across his own lips. When he brought himself up once more, the smile was no longer on his face.

Harry nodded, "I would see you tonight then," Harry said, he approached Alex and the two shook hands again before Harry walked out of the room without turning his attention back toward his partner.

While Harry was walking out of the room, Alex resumed his seat at the bar and emptied his wine glass with one gulp. He placed the once again empty goblet on the surface in front of him and was about to snap his fingers to magically refill the goblet when a female voice interrupted him, "How many does that count?" she asked.

Alex smiled before turning around just in time to see a figure walking from within the room. At first, the figure was nothing more but an outline, but that outline became more and more human as she approached.

By the time that she was standing next to Alex, she had already removed her hood – for she was wearing one – and Alex can see her light brown eyes encased in perfect oblong-shaped eye sockets, her long, flowing medium-blond hair, and her beautiful red cheeks complimented by her aristocratic nose and full red lips.

Alex knew from experience that this beautiful woman has an hour-glass shaped body with small breasts, beautiful toned legs and long arms that end in clever-looking fingers.

"I don't know," Alex said, he shrugged, "probably sixth or seventh?"

The woman smiled, it was a beautiful smile, but there was nothing humorous behind the grin. Almost as if she had apparated, she quickly snatched the glass from Alex, much to the chagrin of the business-suit clad gentleman.

Still, Alex decided not to make a scene of it, mostly because this girl, Emma, was not even supposed to be inside the house of Harry. He turned toward her and asked, "I take it that you have already delivered the vial?"

Emma smirked, "Of course," she replied, "though I feel the need to take a shower, Alex, and I would drag you in with me for forcing me to come close to an obviously moronic waste of human flesh and oxygen," she shook her head angrily before adding, "That vial contained nothing but water and food coloring, how Ronald Weasley thought that it was a potion, I would never know," she fixed Alex a look, "I cannot even understand how he became head auror"

"Pureblood," Alex commented under his breath, he stood from his seat and offered his hand to Emma, "You mentioned a shower," he said with a grin, causing Emma to grin back at him, "that offer still stands?"

**Ronald Weasley's Flat**

**Devonshire, England**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

A loud and distinct pop of apparition echoed around the entire village as Ronald Weasley suddenly materialized in front of the front door of his house. The head auror espied his neighbor – a young mother of two children whose husband is the evening shift director in the Department of Magical International Cooperation – peeping through her windows.

No doubt it was to check out what made the noise that had woken up her one year old girl – and said baby was making her displeasure at being woken up before time known by crying – but in the mind of Ron, it was because the young mother wished to see him. After all, she would always peek out of her windows every time Ron would arrive from work.

It was not only the young mother who would look at Ron every time he returns home, the occupants of the other houses would too, and, again in the delusional mind of Ron, it was because the people wanted to see him. He never really figured out that most of those who were watching him were muttering amongst themselves that if not for the fact that this was a magical village, Ron would probably have already broken the stature of secrecy with the loud pops that he is making.

After a few moments of fishing for his keys, Ron finally found them, though they nearly slipped from his hands on account of the food grease that stained them. As he was about to insert the key to the keyhole, however, the knob suddenly turned and Ron blinked in confusion as the door opened.

The look of confusion on the face of Ron disappeared, replaced by a happy smile, as he thought that Hermione was already waiting home for him. That thought, however, was quickly disposed of when Ron saw that instead of the brunette Hermione, it was his red-haired sister Ginny who was standing within, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at her brother with undisguised hostility clearly written on her face.

Ron blinked once, understanding the look of fury on the face of his sister, before his hands were raised protectively to defend himself, "Whatever it is, I did not do it," Ron replied at once.

"Guilty conscience?" Ginny asked with a smile as she removed her arms from over her chest and placed them instead on her hips as she regarded her older brother. A few moments later, her serious expression dissolved as she regarded her brother with a neutral look, before it completely dissolved and her figure doubled over as she started laughing.

Ron blinked once, before he just shook his head and walked into his house. Ginny moved to the side to allow her brother entry, but not before she continued to snicker at some private joke that only she can understand.

A few minutes later found the siblings seated in front of a makeshift table where Ron usually has his meals – usually brought home from the Leaky Cauldron, unless Hermione was feeling a bit generous and would cook for him, but that does not happen every day – and playing gobstones between the two of them.

"What brings you here?" Ron asked Ginny a few moments later, right after Ginny had just defeated him in another round, "I mean, I was expecting Hermione."

Ginny smirked toward Ron, "Oh, expecting to get some tonight?" she asked crudely.

Ron frowned, but it was not because of his sister's choice of words, rather, it was because of the fact that Ron was not expecting to get some tonight. In fact, he had never gotten anything, even if he had been proposing marriage to Hermione for more than ten years.

Ron sighed once, before he fixed a sister a withering look, "What are you doing here anyway?" he asked, "I thought you were supposed to have dinner with Luna tonight?"

Ginny scoffed, "She had to pass, apparently, she and Neville have some 'husband and wife' duties to attend to," she replied, waving her hand dismissively, she turned toward her brother and a smile came across her face, "So, I thought I should drop by and help you plan your next attempt to get Hermione to say yes," a frown came across her face, "After more than ten years of nothing but failure, you are sure to win one soon enough"

Ron nodded, he thought about telling Ginny what Terry Boot – who was in the auror office with him – had told him the last time that he had informed his officemates of his failure to propose to Hermione, '_I mean, after more than ten years of failure, surely, you already got the message that she does not like you?'_

"About that," Ron said, he reached for the pocket inside his robes and retrieved the crystal vial that the mysterious girl that he met at Diagon Alley, placing the vial on the surface in front of him, halfway between himself and Ginny, "a girl I met at Diagon Alley gave this to me," he explained, motioning toward the vial, "when I asked her if she can make Hermione say yes, this was what she gave me"

Ginny blinked and stared at the vial filled with seemingly unsuspicious liquid. She blinked again and wondered if this was what her annual anonymous mail was referring to when the writer said that her brother would be receiving help from an outside source in his continuing fight to get Hermione Granger's heart.

The lips of Ginny curled up to form a thin smile as she made the decision that this is indeed that which the anonymous letter was referring to. She knew that her mission is to get Hermione to drink this liquid so that she would finally say yes to Ron, and she would have her reward for helping what her anonymous letter claimed was what destiny had intended for. Her reward would, of course, be none other than the boy – man know, Ginny reminded herself – who risked his life for her during her first year, the man-who-won himself, Harry Potter.

"How do you plan on administering it?" Ginny suddenly asked, her voice practically jumpy as she cannot help but be excited by this turnout of events.

Ron stared at his sister incredulously, "You seriously want me to dose Hermione with this?" he asked, his voice a notch or two louder than normal, forcing Ginny to extend her hands out and motion for him to calm down, "I mean, this could be pure basilisk venom for all we know"

Ginny shook her head, "Can't be," she replied, trying her best to keep her smile away from her face in order to present the façade that she is thinking seriously about what she was saying, she turned toward her brother and said, "Basislisk venom is not blue, and it certainly does not have the consistency of water, I think this is the real thing"

"Why don't we try it first, Gin?" Ron suggested, he looked at his sister and said, "You can drink it"

Ginny stood up in surprise and before anyone can react, her palm had already slapped Ron, "Are you not thinking properly?" the youngest Weasley asked her older brother, her rage nearly volcanic as she screamed at her brother, "this is a fucking love potion, you want me to drink a love potion that is keyed to you?"

"How did you know that it's a love potion?" Ron asked, suspicious about that knowledge. He fixed his sister a withering glare and repeated his question, "How did you know that it's a love potion?"

Faced with that glare, Ginny had no choice but to respond, "It's the only logical conclusion," she claimed, and though she did respond, she was still lying, but it would not have mattered since Ron cannot detect the lie anyway, "besides, if it was given to you, then it most probably is keyed to you, so if someone drinks that, they are going to fall in love with you"

"But if it's a love potion…," Ron began.

"For crying out loud Ron, what makes you think that it's a love potion?" Ginny asked, evidently forgetting that just a few moments ago, she was claiming that the vial _is_ a love potion, but as Ginny had expected, her brother was far too focused on the irrelevant things to register her words, "besides, don't you think you've waited long enough? You should be married by now"

And again, Ginny conveniently forgot the fact that she herself was still unmarried, but even if Ron were to make that claim, Ginny would just claim that she is waiting for Ron to get married first.

"Okay," Ron said, he stood up, and Ginny smiled as she turned her attention away from her brother so that he cannot see her smile, evidently, Ronald Weasley had finally made his decision, "I am going to ask Hermione out to dinner tonight and propose to her again, if she says yes, then there is no need for this," – Ron motioned to the vial, and privately, Ginny thought that there is almost no chance of that happening – "and if she says no," – which Ginny is betting what would happen – "then I would use this"

Ginny was about to reply, but at that moment, the welcoming charm bell that Hermione had placed on the mat in front of the front door of this house activated, letting Ron and Ginny know that they have a guest. Ron quickly made his way to the front door, sure that it was Hermione, so the red-haired senior auror was not surprised when his guess was proven correct.

"Hello Ron," Hermione greeted with a smile, espying Ginny, Hermione turned her attention toward the youngest Weasley and greeted her as well, before she returned her attention to Ron and said, "I was hoping to invite you for dinner tonight, but since Ginny is here…"

"Oh no, Hermione," Ginny quickly interrupted, "It's not a bother, I was just about to leave anyway," and without another word, she disappeared with a relatively silent – compared to Ron – pop.

Hermione and Ron watched as Ginny disapparated before they can do anything, but both just shrugged in reaction to it, before they turned toward each other, "So," Hermione began, "Dinner?"

Ron smiled and nodded, "Let me just get my cloak," he said as he returned to the kitchen and retrieved his cloak. At the same time, he grabbed the vial given to him by the mysterious girl he met at the Alley. Hermione was still waiting for him outside the house by the time that he got back, but that was expected and with two pops – Hermione went first, so the loud pop that signals Ron disapparating was second – the two disappeared.

Unseen by both, one of Ron's newly arrived neighbors was watching with very interested eyes, and the moment that Ron and Hermione had disappeared, said neighbor quickly penned and sent a note via owl to an unknown receiver.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**THREE**

**Potter Manor**

**Kent, England**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

The sound of the piano playing tore Harry out of his reverie and reminiscing.

A faint smile came across his face as he stood from where he was seated and made his way to the door out of this room. As he was about to step out of the room, however, he paused just as his right hand reached for the knob on the door and turned around.

The room that he was in screamed white. Everything in the room, from the walls to the furniture – and even the covers of the bed – is in white. The only things not white are the floor – which are brown – and the mirrors. Of course, this is not Harry's room, but he had spent the better part of the day inside in order to make sure that the room is perfect for, after all, Harry would not want his guest to find this room lacking.

With a wistful smile, Harry mentally shook his head and turned his attention toward the door to leave the room once more. His right hand reached for the knob and he turned it to the side, pulling the door inward a few moments after he had turned the knob.

Harry blinked and for a few seconds he was confused by the image that his eyes was showing him. Dark robes and golden masks, the Dark Mark of Voldemort, Death Eaters, misery, destruction, and death flashed by his eyes, and he recoiled once as his mind registered these images.

As fast as the images came, however, they are gone, and Harry found himself standing at the second floor of his manor, overlooking the main ballroom where hundreds of people were gathered, mingling with each other, dressed in their dinner night finery and holding glasses of drinks on one hand. Harry smiled as he thought that the scene that he was witnessing reminded him of the high-end parties that he had been forced to attend when his name became associated with high-end businesses. It also reminded him of the parties that he had been forced to host in this very home when his own company needed to host them out of social responsibilities.

The sound of piano music reached the ears of the man who had destroyed Voldemort and again, the same images of death and destruction flashed in the mind of Harry, but before Harry can even think about it, the images disappeared. He turned his attention toward the piano and a smile graced his face as he saw his friend – Alex York – seated at the piano, but it was not the mysterious man who had helped Harry rise from the post-war depression that he found himself in who was playing, he was just seated there.

Harry frowned slightly as his position in the second floor of the main ballroom prevented him from truly seeing the person playing the piano, and he moved to the side so that he may see. Once he saw who was playing, the smile on his face broadened as he realized that a young woman of about the same age as Alex was seated beside him, and it was her who was playing while Alex simply watched on.

Harry sedately – '_a gentleman never runs,_' Alex had told him – made his way down from the second floor of the main ballroom through a pair of stairs that run parallel with each other hidden from the main view of the main ballroom.

Once more, the notes of the piano reached the ears of Harry as he was about to take the first step down. Once more, the images of death and destruction flashed by his mind and he actually had to pause to consider the images that he was seeing.

A shrill sound cut through the air as the notes of the piano playing was drowned by the sound of a violin and the images that Harry was seeing disappeared only to be replaced images showing the fulfillment of all the wishes that Harry had shared with his followers since that morning when he first decided to take over the Magical World.

A large smile came across the face of Harry as the sound of the violin showed him the image that he had always imagined, a possible future that he had fought to become true. The image was that of him and Hermione, him dressed in his muggle finest and her, dressed in the most beautiful white wedding gown as they stood in front of the altar, matching wedding rings on their fingers.

Harry blinked and shook his head a few moments later to rid himself of these images. He finally took the step down and found himself standing in the main ballroom less than a minute later. His followers – seeing him – all turned toward him even as Alex and his companion carried on playing, Alex on the violin and his companion on the piano.

Thankfully, no more images pervaded the mind of Harry as he walked toward the piano, his followers moving to the side to open up a path for him as he continued to walk. The sweet sound of the violin that Alex was holding dissolved into a tone that suggested misery, hatred, and suffering, but it was quickly counteracted by the piano bleating a tone that suggested hope, love, and a happy ending.

Harry reached the edge of the platform where the piano was mounted and for a few moments, he allowed his old friend and his companion to continue playing, their instruments exchanging themes as they continued to do so.

After a few moments, Harry pointedly cleared his throat with a fake cough, and the music stopped. The silence that followed was deafening and though it lasted only for a short moment, Harry had never felt more awkward before in his life. All at once, jumbled images flooded his mind, Death Eaters, comrades during the war, Voldemort, Dumbledore, his parents, his godfather, and Hermione.

"Harry," Alex suddenly said, his calm voice cutting through the images being presented to Harry and saving the man who conquered from having to scream in order to rid himself of the images that he was seeing.

Harry blinked before he turned his attention toward Alex. There was no need to remove a smile from his face because Harry does not have a smile on his face in the first place. He, instead, extended his hand, and Alex followed suit, the two men shaking the others hand.

"You still play beautifully," Harry commented as soon as they let go of each other's hand. Harry inclined his head slightly toward the violin that Alex was holding and added with a smile, "I thought you would never pick a violin again in your life"

Alex started laughing, "Emma convinced me otherwise," he replied simply, he turned toward the girl that was playing the piano and extended his left hand toward her. With her right, she held his hand and he helped her stand as she presented herself before Harry, curtsying in front of him, "My Emma," Alex said, introducing the girl to Harry.

Harry bowed slightly toward the girl, a smile on his face, but when he glanced at Alex, that smile carried with it a question, '_Who is this girl?_' the expression silently asked Alex, _'You told me that Emma died when you were young, and that her death is the one thing that you wish to avenge, the reason why you joined me in the first place?'_

Of course, no answer was forthcoming. Harry knew only all too well that even if he were to pester Alex with questions, the older man would simply wave all questions off until that moment that Harry finally gets tired of asking and would just drop it. After one too many times, Harry refused to even try again, telling himself that Alex would narrate when he feels like narrating. Sadly, it does not happen often.

Harry turned toward Emma and bowed toward her again, "that was a wonderful piece that you were playing," he said, complimenting the woman in front of him. Harry noted that Emma had looped her arm around the arm of Alex, but chose not to make a scene out of it, instead, continuing, "Does it have a name?"

Emma giggled, "I am afraid that it does not have one, Your Lordship," she replied. She inclined her head slightly toward Alex before she continued, "We were just playing around with the keys, and he..," he glanced toward Alex, "he was trying to reign my notes with his violin"

"I think he did a marvelous job," Harry said, glancing toward his partner, he gave him a nod with a smile that promised that they would have a lot to talk about later. Alex smiled back and inclined his head toward Harry, silently signaling the younger man nothing, before he inclined his head toward the crowd that was now watching them in silence.

Harry mentally cursed as he forgot the fact that his followers are watching. He turned toward them just as Alex led Emma down from the platform, rejoining the others who are watching Harry and allowing the man who destroyed Voldemort the platform to himself.

For a few moments, Harry said nothing; he merely stared at his gathered followers. Although he is not the organizer that Alex is, Harry knows that almost all factions within the magical world are represented by the six hundred or so wizards and witches that now have their attention solely on him. Half-bloods, muggle-born, pureblood, squib, half-breeds, dark creatures and even non-humans, they are all represented in this meeting.

A waiter – probably prompted by Alex, who stood at the front row with his girl – approached Harry and offered him a tiny wine glass half-filed with wine. Harry took the glass but did not immediately drink from it, instead, he just held it in his hands. Fixing his followers a look that demanded instantly obedience, Harry began, "I see no need to introduce myself, you all know me, and over the past eight years since we have been planning this uprising, I have come to know all of you," he said.

Silence greeted his remarks, but at this point in this impromptu speech, Harry was not expecting anything more than silence. Harry sighed before he continued, "When I defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort in 1998," he said, "a new era should have been ushered, an era of equality and tolerance, an era where such terms as 'purebloood', 'half-blood', 'muggle-born', and 'squib' should no longer have any connotations, an era where those labeled as 'dark creatures' can live as peacefully as those who do not have that derogatory term attached to them"

"that, ladies and gentlemen, was the world that I had fought for," Harry continued, "that, ladies and gentlemen, was the world I would have given my life for," he paused dramatically as he can literally see the anger of his followers on their faces, "but did the sacrifice of many comrades from the so-called Light side bear any fruit?" he asked rhetorically. It was a rhetorical question, but there are quite a few who screamed in the negative. Harry allowed them.

"Yes," Harry said, responding to the handful of 'No's' that were screamed by the crowd, "Yes, the answer is 'No', if anything, we are now living in a world that is more discriminatory than the one under the Dark Lord Voldemort, the light side and the dark side finally agreeing on one thing, discriminate against those that they see as inferior to them"

"For nearly fifteen years, I have watched, prayed, and hoped that the magical world would turn back on the path that would most assuredly see another Voldemort rise to attempt to take power," Harry continued, "For nearly fifteen years, I, and later, all of you, had tried to manipulate behind the scenes in order to usher what was supposed to have come to fruition after the defeat of the last Dark Lord, and for nearly fifteen years, we've watched as our efforts proved to be in vain"

Harry theatrically shook his head, "We are now left with no choice but to facilitate this change ourselves, directly," he said. He paused before he added as if it was an afterthought, "No doubt, the press and people of today would label the actions that we are about to take as that of a dark organization, no doubt we would be labeled as Neo-Death Eaters, and our leaders would be associated with the vile names of Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, Augustus Rookwood, and many other infamous Death Eaters of the last war, but would it matter?"

"NO," the gathered Knights – for that was the name Harry had chosen to name his followers – replied with such fervor and strength that for a few moments, Harry worried that the windows around his house would be shattered as a result.

Harry nodded, agreeing with his followers, "No, it does not matter," he confirmed, he looked at the sea of expectant faces in front of him as he continued, "History is written by the victors, my friends, and we would be the ones who would write history, because we would be the victorious ones"

"The cause that we are fighting for is the correct cause," Harry said, he smiled before he added, "if the sheep of the Wizarding World label us as a dark organization, then they are probably as stupid as we thought, if not more so," laughter among the gathered ranks greeted that statement, Harry allowed it to continue for a few moments before he stopped it by continuing, "By a light organization, the sheep expected an organization who would fight to maintain the status quo, forgetting the fact that anything and everything must adapt in order to survive," he shook his head for emphasis, "The sheep had grown too comfortable and had refused to even consider adopting, killing them would be considered the merciful thing to do, but that, ladies and gentlemen, is not our goal, no," he again shook his head for emphasis, "our goal is to drag the magical would into the new century"

Cheers erupted from amongst the gathered crowd as Harry once more informed them of the goal that they are fighting for. Harry knew that a great many of his followers joined because of the discrimination – hence the reason why most of his followers are either muggle-born or half-bloods, but there are a few who joined because they can no longer stand the air of superiority that most purebloods have, hence the reason why Harry also have purebloods and squibs amongst his followers.

To most of the Knights, the fact that Harry wanted to drag the magical world into the new century would mean equal rights and tolerance. Most half-bloods and muggle-born members are fighting and going to fight for that, but the promise of equal rights and tolerance had been most appealing to those that were marginalized by the magical government, in particular, those that the magical government had attached the social stigma of 'Dark Creature' and 'Half-breed'.

Harry raised his right hand in the universal sign for stop. His followers did not immediately notice the signal, but Harry honestly did not mind. After more than three minutes of unbridled cheering, silence once more descended among the ranks as they once more turned their attention toward Harry.

Harry stared at his followers for a full ten seconds, before his face broke into a grin. Using his peripheral vision, Harry saw that several of his followers broke into a grin in response, and Harry raised his wine glass before him before saying, "A toast, to victory,"

Hundreds of wine glasses were raised toward Harry as his followers returned the toast. Harry emptied his wine glass in one gulp, as did many of his followers, before Harry casually threw his wine glass diagonally across him and into the floor where it smashed upon impact. Before him, hundreds of wine glasses were shattered as his followers followed suit, symbolizing that they would rather be smashed to pieces – much like the wine glasses that they had just smashed – rather than betray their cause.

It was at that moment that Alex stepped into the platform with Harry. Harry, at first, expected that Emma would return to the platform, but the girl remained where Alex had left her. Alex turned toward the crowd and intoned, "You all know what you have to do," he said, "Its time, we have waited long enough, go and bring about that era which should have already arrived,"

Harry closed his eyes as he lowered the anti-apparition wards surrounding his home. As soon as the wards were lowered, he opened his eyes and watched impassively as his followers disappeared with the distinct pops generated by disapparition.

Five minutes later, the main ballroom was empty save for Harry and Alex – even Emma had disappeared – and Harry turned toward his business partner, "Who was she?" he asked.

Alex smiled, "Are you going to nag until I give you the answer?" he asked, answering Harry's question with his own. The smile on the face of Alex quickly disappeared as he added, "There will come a time, my friend, when I can tell you everything about Emma, but until that moment, I would like to ask for a favor," he paused and stressed, "A favor, Harry, you do not have to do it, but I would wish for you to do it"

Harry nodded, "What is it?" he asked. He already suspects what Alex wants him to do, but until Alex himself tells him what he wants, Harry would not assume anything.

"Don't ask me about her," Alex said, causing Harry to nod as he remarked to himself that that was what he suspected Alex would ask, though Harry did not voice that out loud, keeping his silence as Alex continued, "As I said, there would come a time when I would tell you everything about her," he grinned, "or there might even come a time when you would understand everything about her without me having the need to do so," he shook his head, "I sincerely hope that you would never have to understand it on your own, that I would have to explain it to you," he shook his head once more, this time, keeping any thoughts about his female partner behind him.

Harry watched as Alex reached into the inner pocket of his navy blue double breasted suit and retrieve a piece of paper, which he handed to Harry without a word. Harry took the paper and asked, "What is this?"

"Intelligence from the people that we have watching Ronald Weasley," Alex explained, "Our intelligence asset has reason to believe that Ron may be planning to dose Hermione with the vile draught that the 'Fairy Godmother' had given him tonight"

Harry saw red, but did not comment, focusing instead on the piece of paper in front of him, reading the report. "Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley?" he asked Alex, referring to the place where Ron would take Hermione out for dinner.

Alex shrugged as he smiled, "Does it matter?" he asked rhetorically, he turned his back toward Harry and took a seat in front of the piano. Using his right index finger, he pressed on one random key on the piano, the sound echoing around the room as Alex continued, "both are on our target list, does it really matter where he is taking her? We are going to attack them both anyway"

**Golden Swan, Hogsmeade**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

Hermione allowed herself to gape at the decorations inside the most posh restaurant available in Hogsmeade as Ron – '_probably remembering the etiquette lessons that he had been forced to take as a requisite for his promotion to head auror_,' Hermione thought – gently escorted Hermione to their table.

With a wry smile, Hermione considered the irony of the situation. This is her first time in this place, and while Ron was the one who made the choice – '_probably realizing that we have never eaten here before_', Hermione thought – she has no illusions that she would be the one doing the paying. After all, in the more than fifty dates that Hermione and Ron had, she was the one who paid five out six times.

Shaking her head mentally, Hermione struggled to remove her negative thoughts about Ron, reminding herself that she was the one who invited him for dinner, therefore, it is her responsibility to pay, and reminding herself of the reason that she asked for dinner with him in the first place.

Subtly, she inhaled as if she was consolidating her strength – she is – before she allowed Ron to pull the chair for her and see her seated first before he took his seat. A waiter approached them with two sets of menu which she handed to Ron and Hermione before excusing herself.

"First time that we are eating here," Ron commented with a smile, "So I'm not sure what you would order"

Hermione smiled, "Don't worry about it," she replied. She glanced at the menu and fought the urge to sigh. It was not the selection of food that made her sigh, but rather, the fact that Ron does not know her enough to be able to guess what she would order, despite the fact that Hermione had always been a bit constant with what she orders in restaurants.

Again, Hermione shook her head mentally, forcibly reminding herself that the reason that she asked Ron out to dinner was so that she can ask him if her proposal for marriage is still available.

Hermione almost doubled over in pain as she suddenly felt her chest constrict in response to the thought of her marrying Ron. Shielded by the menu, Ron failed to see Hermione's right hand as it flew to her left chest, just over her heart, as the pain intensified. It was not as painful as the time when she was on the receiving end of the cruciatus curse, but it was, nonetheless, painful.

"Hermione?" Ron asked a few moments later. The pain disappeared and Hermione lowered her menu, staring at the confused face of Ron, with a questioning look, "I am afraid that I do not know half of these words," he remarked.

For the first time, Hermione stared at the menu and blinked as a smile came across her face. The names are in French, but there are English descriptions in tiny text underneath the names. Hermione, who was able to speak French, do not need the tiny English text, but as Ron was not able to understand French, Hermione pointed out the English text, which caused Ron to groan as he realized that he actually has to read in order to label the picture of food printed in the menu.

"Listen Hermione," Ron suddenly said. Hermione stared at Ron with a questioning look on her face and missed the fact that Ron was fumbling with a clear vial under the table, silently telling himself that he would use the contents of the thing if Hermione says 'no' yet again.

Ron sighed, however, as he realized that the chances of him having to resort to the potion is very high as the chance of Hermione turning him down yet again is almost a hundred percent.

"Hermione, I want to ask this before the food comes and I lose my edge," Ron explained, "Would you marry me?" he asked aloud. Normally, that would have caused the patrons around the restaurant to turn their attention toward Ron and Hermione, but this was Ron and Hermione, and almost everyone in magical Britain had already seen Ron propose to Hermione at least once. It was hardly surprising anymore.

Hermione blinked as she tried to find the correct answer to that. Her subconscious was screaming 'No' to her at more than one hundred thousand decibels, but her conscious side was screaming at her at an equally loud voice that she had already made her decision and that saying yes was the reason that she asked Ron out in the first place.

Suddenly, she nearly fell of her chair as the searing pain in her chest returned. Her right hand flew to her chest unconsciously once more in order to clutch her heart. Ron stood up in alarm and was about to run to help Hermione in whatever way he can when there was suddenly a large explosion coming from outside the store.

Ron paused for a few moments, but he quickly turned his attention back toward Hermione just as another explosion coming from outside the restaurant ripped through the air, quickly followed by the distinctive two-beat alarm that Ron instantly recognized as his face paled.

It was a sound that he never thought he would hear in his lifetime, the sound of alarm bells ringing all over Hogsmeade signaling that the magical village is under attack.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**FOUR**

**Golden Swan, Hogsmeade**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

The sound of spell fire being fired almost at every possible direction tore Ron and Hermione out of their reverie brought about by the sound of the explosion and the alarm bells ringing all over the magical village.

From her position at the floor of the restaurant, and from his position, standing in response to the fact that Hermione had fallen after feeling an incredible pain erupt on her chest – not that Ron knows that, of course – both Hermione and Ron turned their attention toward the big floor-to-mirror window that cover the entire length of the Golden Swan façade facing the main road of Hogsmeade Village – the same road that would lead to Hogwarts – just in time to see the tell-tale sickly green beam of light that mark the killing curse.

In addition, the red beam of light that mark stunners and other curses and hexes filled the air even as the patrons of the restaurant realized what is going on and was about to start screaming their heads off in panic.

Hermione instantly recognized the impending sign of chaos coming from the patrons, and she knew that if the patrons panic, more than likely, they would rush out of the restaurant and straight into the crossfire. Not something that any sane person would do, Hermione knew, but with panic setting on their heels, not many of them would be thinking of the sane and insane thing to do.

Hermione turned her attention toward Ron, hoping that the senior auror – '_this is his job, after all,_' Hermione told herself – to gain control of the situation, but, as always, Ron just stood there with his mouth open as if he cannot believe what is going on.

Of course, that is not the real reason that Ron was dumbstruck. The senior auror of the ministry was dumbstruck because he was still waiting for the answer of Hermione to his question. Cursing loudly – and missing the look of incredulity on the face of the girl that he had just asked to marry – Ron drew his wand from his holster and – in an action that made Hermione ask herself if Ron was thinking properly – charged straight to the outside and into the maelstrom of spell fire.

Ron was lucky enough to have missed a killing curse, the sickly green beam of light nearly grazing him – which should be enough to kill him – as he sprinted toward the nearest cover that he can find. Once there, he fired a quick stunning spell, which probably did nothing seeing that he cannot even see his target other than get the attention of the unknown attackers.

As if to advertise that fact, the next volley of spells appeared to have been focused on Ron, and his cover – an empty upturned crate made of wood – burst into flames as no less than half a dozen killing curses – and Hermione counted at least four cruciatus curses – slammed into the crate.

Ron sprinted toward an empty alley and took position with his back resting on the wall and his wand in hand. Hermione noted that he was breathing hard, but the red-haired senior auror was not showing any outward signs of fatigue as he quickly fished out a medallion from somewhere within his robes. Hermione watched as Ron activated the medallion, summoning reinforcements.

Being a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Hermione is very familiar with the response time of aurors. Whereas during the era of the Second Blood War, the aurors would take as long as fifteen minutes – if there is someone on duty and if the aurors on duty are sure that the summons would not see them fighting against Voldemort – the aurors of today are able to respond in less than two minutes, five at the most.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Hermione was about to announce that everything is going to be alright to the patrons of the restaurant, most of whom still look as if they are preparing to panic, but as she opened her mouth, the door to the kitchen of the restaurant burst open as four men – dressed in dark robes that reminded Hermione of the Death Eaters of old, but without the golden masks – burst into the main dining room with their wands. Strangely, they appear to be not casting spells, just looking around as if they are searching for someone.

Hermione instantly had her wand in her hand and was about to fire a reductor – having learned her lessons about firing stunners before – when one of the four men spotted her, eliciting an excited squeal from the man and prompting his partners to point their wands toward Hermione. At that same moment, Hermione fired a reductor toward the man who spotted her – him appearing to be the leader.

The leader was thrown off of his feet and landed squarely on the floor with a hole the size of a fist on his chest. His comrades instantly took cover as Hermione kept sending her curses and hexes toward the direction of the kitchen, pinning down the remaining three dark robed men who made no effort to retrieve their fallen – but still alive, though slowly bleeding to death – comrade.

Hermione had to lay off her curses a few moments later as the panicking patrons of the restaurants finally lost whatever false sense of bravery they have and started screaming their heads off, their panic finally getting the better of them.

At that moment, the three remaining dark robed men reminded Hermione that they are still in the fight when they suddenly stood and began firing curses at Hermione, their spells hitting the panicking patrons of the restaurant, not a few of them at their backs. Fortunately – and strangely in the opinion of Hermione – the dark robed men were firing stunning and disabling curses rather than the reducto curses that Hermione had been firing.

In other words, it would appear the that the dark robed men are not aiming to kill her, just stun her, which made Hermione wonder if these men have instructions to abduct her instead of kill her.

Turning her attention toward Ron – who was still hiding behind the wall and firing a few curse back toward his attackers every time he can find a window of opportunity to do so – Hermione noted that the same restriction does not appear to be applicable to Ron as his attackers are firing lethal curses with clear intention to kill Ron.

Hermione shook her head and focused her attention toward her attacks and fought the urge to sigh as she sent a banishing curse toward one of her three attackers, which hit the dark robed attacker squarely in the chest, sending him flying away off of his feet and his back hit the far wall before he slumped on the ground, unconscious and with a tiny trickle of blood streaming down from his mouth.

The two attackers paused as they considered how two of their numbers were taken down by a witch, but it was a mistake that they are not going to regret for quite some time as Hermione took down both of them in quick succession with powerful banishing charms that sent both of them flying to the far wall.

Hermione turned her attention toward Ron just in time to see her hoped-for husband get hit with a powerful cruciatus curse as he tried a fancy maneuver to evade a fusillade of killing curses. The resulting torture curse was enough to send the red-haired man to the ground as he started screaming his lungs out as the pain coursed through his system.

"Ron," Hermione said, she tried to sprint toward the red-haired senior auror, but had to quickly throw herself to the ground as a lethal fusillade of killing curses streaked past her. Hermione hit her head at one of the legs of the nearest table, knocking the table off to the side and causing the silverware and other dining utensils on the table to fall to the ground, causing anything that can be shattered, to shatter.

Hermione pushed herself off of the ground and instantly felt the stinging sensation coming from her face and realized that she cut herself as she dived to the ground and found herself wondering why the aurors are not yet responding to the request for assistance from their senior auror.

At that moment, Hermione blinked as she realized the reason why the aurors are not responding, other locations all around magical Britain are under attack. That is the reason why there are no responding aurors to Hogsmeade, the responding aurors are already deployed.

Shaking her head, Hermione tightened her grip on her wand as she told herself that attacking Hogsmeade can only be the work of a Dark Lord, and any rising Dark Lord would want to stamp his presence by attacking locations all over Magical Britain.

Spell fire came from behind the position of Ron and Hermione as reinforcements arrived. Turning her attention toward the source of the new spell fire, Hermione saw familiar faces running toward the attackers with their wands held high and firing.

A smile of relief came across the face of Hermione as she saw her old professors from Hogwarts joined by substantial number of students – '_probably sixth and seventh year,'_ Hermione thought to herself – take positions and assist in the defense.

The appearance of the professors and students somehow emboldened the hitherto panicking residents of the magical village and they rallied to defend their village from the still unknown attackers.

Hermione quickly made her way toward where Professor McGonagall was quickly directing the defense of the village, looking strangely like a general despite her trademark deep green robes

"Professor," Hermione said as she stood before her old Transfiguration professor. Professor McGonagall is now over one hundred years of age, but is still Headmistress of Hogwarts in addition to being one of the most powerful witches in the world. She might not hold the same reputation as Professor Dumbledore, but her presence certainly was enough to give the attackers pause.

"Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall said, spotting her once and all-time favorite student making her way toward her. She saw the cut on the left cheek of Hermione and fought the urge to frown as she realized that Hermione must have received the cut during the fighting.

Turning her attention toward the still down Ron Weasley, she gave herself a stiff nod before turning her attention back toward Hermione and asking, "What can you tell me about them?"

Hermione answered as best as she could. She also added the strange behavior of the dark-robed men when it comes to her, specifically, the fact that they appear to be out to capture rather than kill her, a notion that sent a frown on the face of Professor McGonagall.

"I see," the old professor said, fighting back the frown that had erupted on her face. She turned her attention toward the now dead dark-robed man that Hermione had hit with a reductor curse and said, "Well, they are not hiding behind masks so we can easily identify them, though this is the first time that I have seen this man, and judging from his age, I was already teaching at Hogwarts when he was young," the old transfiguration professor shook her head as she added, mostly to herself, "probably went to another school,"

The diminutive Professor Flitwick – displaying strength that a normal man of his stature would not have – pulled Professor McGonagall and Hermione to the floor, just in time to evade a volley of curses that were fired from the dark-robed man who have obviously regrouped and giving as hard as they have.

Strangely, the volley of curses that Professor Flitwick had helped Hermione and Professor McGonagall evade was a combination of stunners and other curses meant to disable rather than to kill.

"The Minister made a floo call informing us that Diagon Alley and several other locations are under attack," McGonagall said as she pushed herself to her feet. Beside her, Hermione did the same and noted that the school matron, Madam Pomfrey, was already leaning over Ron and administering a bright red potion that Hermione instantly recognized as anti-curciatus potion. Hermione turned her attention back toward her professor and heard her continue, "When we receive the call for Rosmerta that there are unknown wizards in Hogsmeade, we came with as many volunteers as we can find," she said, motioning toward some of the younger witches and wizards that had accompanied her.

Although young, the volunteer students were giving as good as the dark-robed witches and wizards, though their repertoire is limited to spells, hexes, and curses that they have been taught in school. Even to someone as untrained in battle as Hermione, it was obvious that Professor McGonagall and the Hogwarts contingent did not come here to win this battle, they came here to merely hold the line and wait for reinforcements.

Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick quickly moved to where one of the student volunteers had fallen, no doubt to assess his situation, but Hermione did not watch her two old professors as they ran toward the fallen student, instead, she found herself firing back at the attackers at the same time that she found herself praying that reinforcements come so that they can win this battle.

Hermione, however, also noted that perhaps, there is no reason for this battle to be won, and she turned her attention back toward where their adversaries had quickly erected a makeshift barricade composed of upturned barrels, crates, and even two horseless carriages from where they have taken cover while firing curses without even aiming.

Blinking, Hermione found herself thinking that the dark-robed men should not be doing that. It would appear that they intend to stay in Hogsmeade rather than just raid it for the terror value.

"I see you've noticed it as well, Ms. Granger," a voice beside Hermione said, and she turned to see the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor of Hogwarts – Michael Isaac Blake – crouch beside her, his wand held at his right hand. The relatively young professor – he looked younger than Hermione, which would not be a surprise seeing that Hermione knows Blake _is_ younger than her – quickly pushed himself to his feet and fired off a string of five curses in half as many seconds before he took position again, this time, pulling Hermione down to crouch with him as the dark-robed attackers bombarded their position with blasting hexes that forced their make-shift cover – an upturned stall – to explode into a thousand pieces.

Fortunately, by the time that happened, Blake and Hermione had already moved, though they were forced to separate as Blake ran to one side and Hermione to the other. Hermione found herself crouching behind a low wall, and she turned her attention toward the young Hogwarts professor just in time to see him fire off another string of five curses – again in half as many seconds – before sprinting toward another cover, apparently learning that the dark-robed attackers are going to bombard him once again.

Hermione once more tightened her grip at her wand as she threw herself to the side, rolling along the street toward the position where Blake was, firing a curse every time she found herself lying on her stomach.

Curses started raining all around her, and Hermione noted that although during the first return fire coming the attackers, the spells being used were lethal, the moment that the attackers realized that it was her that they are firing on, their spells suddenly turned to stunners.

Finding herself cowering behind the same upturned crate as Blake, Hermione wondered what the hell is going on. It would appear in the mind of the brilliant young lady that the attackers are hell-bent on creating as much chaos in Hogsmeade at the same time that they are bent on killing everyone that they came across, but it would appear that that same attitude does not apply to Hermione, it was as if they were aiming to capture her.

Suddenly, Hermione blinked as she realized that that might be the goal of this entire operation in the first place, to capture her. Racking her mind, the senior prosecutor of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement tried to mentally list the number of people who would want to abduct her, and came up with a list that had less than half a dozen names on it, mostly males, who had, in one occasion or the other, tried to get her to date them.

None of those names in her list, however, have the capacity to gather and organize these many men, especially if the target is just her. close to fifty witches and wizards are attacking Hogmseade right now, and if they have attacked other locations, then it only makes sense that there are more men under this new Dark Lord.

Noticing that Hermione was now positioned beside him, Blake pocketed his wand before he grabbed the left arm of Hermione and – none-too-gently – dragged her away from the firing line. She watched as a couple of student volunteers from Hogwarts and two civilians who are most probably residents of Hogsmeade take their place at the line, before she turned toward Blake and shot him a look that instantly demanded an answer as to why he dragged her away from the fight.

Blake, however, did not reply, choosing instead to continue dragging Hermione until she found herself standing inside the Three Broomsticks, which she learned a few moments later, had been requisitioned by Professor McGonagall and was acting as her command center. Near the fireplace, Hermione noticed Madam Pomfrey operating a floo, apparently, sending injured combatants to the Hospital Wing in the castle

"Minister says that they've driven off the attackers from Diagon Alley, and that aurors are coming, but it might take some time as several aurors were hurt during the raid," Professor McGonagall said as soon as she spotted Hermione. She seemed confused for a few moments before she decided to add her misgivings, "This does not make any sense," she said, "It's as if their goal is to take Hogsmeade rather than just to scare the people"

Hermione nodded, having come up to that conclusion herself as soon as she saw that the dark-robed attackers were not retreating, even after the arrival of reinforcements.

"Perhaps, that is their goal, professor," Hermione replied, keeping her voice low even as a patronus – a tiger – came bowling into the common room of the Three Broomsticks, announcing in a voice that Hermione recognized belonged to the Minister of Magic, "Aurors are on their way, Professor McGonagall, please hold for just for a few more minutes"

Professor McGonagall sighed and Hermione noted that her old professor tightened her grip on her wand before she gave a nod, "Very well," she said. Almost as if it was to herself, the old transfiguration professor silently said, "I've lived through two Dark Lords who were successful in controlling our governments, I would not allow a third one," before she exited the Three Broomsticks with the intention of fighting clearly etched on her face.

Hermione, not having anything else to do, followed her, her grip on her wand as tight as she ever remembered, as tight as her grip on her wand during the Battle of Hogwarts more than ten years ago.

**Hill overlooking Hogsmeade Village**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

As the assault on the magical village was going on, a small group of men wearing the same dark robes as the attackers in the village calmly observed the assault while standing on top of a hill overlooking the almost picturesque looking, hitherto peaceful village.

Lights of different color were being thrown all over the village as Alex York calmly stood in front of his small – less than a dozen men and women – observer group with his arms crossed over his chest and a small smile on his face.

Around him, the other members of the observer group maintained a stoic silence as their eyes darted to all directions behind their leader, searching for any signs of impending danger and prepared to take it down.

Alex ignored them; he knows that they are the best, even among the Knights. With a wry smile, he turned his attention toward the southern edge of the village and watched as more than fifty dark-robed Knights materialized out of thin air, at almost the same time that on the north end of the village, aurors – most of whom still showing signs of the heavy battle that they believed they had won in Diagon Alley – appeared through apparition.

At that exact moment, Emma appeared beside Alex. It was not apparition or portkey, both of whom would have produced a sound of some sort. It was as if she had been standing beside Alex all this time, but invisible.

"He's coming," Emma said without preamble. Alex nodded at the same time that he used his peripheral vision to check the reaction coming from his bodyguard unit, but mentally berated himself as he forcefully reminded himself that his bodyguards are handpicked by himself and have sworn loyalty to him rather than Harry. They would not tell anyone about Emma appearing beside Alex without any tell-tale sign.

Alex nodded, not even bothering to turn to regard Emma. His smile turned to a smirk as he turned his attention toward the entrance of the Three Broomsticks, just in time to watch as an older woman whom he recognized as Professor McGonagall exit with her wand held in a combat pose. A few moments later, a younger girl that Alex recognized as Hermione – even if Harry had not shown him the pictures, Alex would have recognized her, he had been watching, after all – stepped out of the Three Broomsticks and followed the Headmistress of Hogwarts.

"It has been a long time, hasn't it?" Emma asked beside Alex, keeping her voice neutral, though Alex can tell that there is a hint of regret dripping from her words, she turned toward Alex at the same time that he looked at her, "Do you regret it?"

Alex snorted before he turned his attention toward the village once more, just in time to watch as the reinforcements of both sides – not exactly fresh – confronted each other. A few moments of concentrated exchange of spells gave way to individual duels as the aurors and the Knights who had been fighting against each other less than thirty minutes ago in Diagon Alley found themselves facing each other again, this time, in the grounds of Hogsmeade Village.

A few moments later, Alex finally replied to the question of his partner, "It was not your fault," he said, which resulted to Emma frowning as she let out a sigh of frustration. She knew that that was the best that she would get from Alex. She chose not to make a scene out of it, knowing that their private time is about to end.

Less than five seconds later, Emma faded away at the exact same moment that a silent pop of apparition echoed around the air surrounding Alex and his bodyguards and Harry appeared.

Harry was wearing the same dark robes as his followers, but unlike the Knights, Harry and his bodyguards – who appeared via apparition less than ten seconds after Harry – are also wearing gold shoulder boards on their right shoulders. They also look fresh, despite the fact that Harry and his bodyguards – whom Alex would readily acknowledge as some of the best fighters among the Knights – had been engaged in fighting in and around Azkaban.

"I take it that the mission was successful?" Alex asked as he turned to regard Harry.

Harry nodded, not even bothering to reply. At the exact same time, he drew the Elder Wand and showed it to Alex, who smiled. Alex knew that there was one aspect of the legend of the Elder Wand that never quite made it to the books of legend was the fact that the more souls the wand 'eat' – or destroy – the more powerful it gets. That was the reason why, more often than not, the holder of the wand kill his opponents. Albus Dumbledore had been an exception, and his refusal to 'feed' the wand had resulted to the wand losing much of its power.

Harry had no such qualms, at least not after Alex got to him.

The Man-who-Won had led his personal bodyguards to Azkaban Island and had slaughtered everyone in the island, prisoners, guards, and dementors, without mercy. Alex knows this because even if Harry and his men had done the deed nearly thirty minutes ago, he can still taste the lingering death of some of the prisoners in the air surrounding Harry.

With a smile, Alex nodded his acknowledgement of the contents of the silent report of Harry before he said, "She's here," – Harry turned toward Alex – "with Ronald Weasley, but we've taken out the red-haired senior auror, your girl is down there, fighting against us," Alex paused and quickly added as Harry shot his partner a look, "Don't worry," he assured him, "Our men knows that she is not to be harmed, incapacitated and disabled, yes but not harmed"

"I cannot stand the waiting," Harry declared before he turned his attention away from his partner. He gave one nod and without any warning, he and his bodyguards disappeared with faint pops of disapparition.

As soon as Harry and his bodyguards have disappeared, Emma reappeared, but before she can say anything, Alex turned toward her and complained, "He's gotten impatient," he said.

Emma laughed silently before she asked, "If it was me down there, would you be as patient as you are right now?"

* * *

**E/N: **'Cause it's you and me against the World'


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**FIVE**

**Hogsmeade**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

Colored lights were flying everywhere as the defenders of the magical village broke their formation in order to engage their dark-robed attackers. Bolstered by the arrival of the aurors – though some of their reinforcements are not in the best of conditions, given that they had just fend off an attack from Diagon Alley – the original defenders of Hogmeade were of the belief that they can win this fight.

Already, duels were starting between the two sides as barely qualified students from Hogwarts, villagers from the village, and other guests who were caught at the wrong place at the wrong time sought to check and engage a dark-robed attacker each.

Harry and his bodyguards apparated near the center of the village, the leader of the Knights not having any intention of involving himself in the messy duels, he was there, after all, to find Hermione.

Unfortunately for him, the moment that he appeared, a group of seven aurors spotted them and moved to engage them, taking what they were wearing as a sign that they are hostile, not that that is wrong.

Almost as soon as the first colored light flew toward Harry, his bodyguards took formation and surrounded him, returning fire even before they can take their positions. Normally, that would all that would take to break anyone or anything attacking Harry, but their opponents are not normal people, they are aurors, the elite of the elite of Ministry of Magic, and they still have adrenaline in their system after fending off attackers. It is also possible that quite a few of them wanted revenge as there are a few casualties for both sides during the raid in Diagon.

Shield charms snapped into place as the seven aurors took their formation, three men to the front shielding, while the other four stayed behind, representing the offensive part of the formation as they launched a barrage of spell fire toward Harry and his bodyguards, most of whom are shielding as well.

Harry turned his attention toward the aurors attacking them at the same moment that the seven man auror squad was reinforced by quite a few villagers, possibly because they saw the golden shoulder boards that Harry and his bodyguards are wearing and took that to mean that they are a command group of sorts, again, that was not wrong.

The weight of the barrage being fired toward Harry and his bodyguards was so intense that more and more of Harry's personal security team had to be diverted to assist with the shielding. As this was happening, Harry stood at the center of the circle surrounding him and looked at those attacking him. The look on his face was not one of contempt or a sneer – Harry knows that that is what Voldemort would have on his face if it was him standing where Harry is standing right now – but rather, one of neutrality, not unlike the look on the face of a normal person when he looks at sheep.

Letting out a long sigh, Harry turned to face the aurors who are still firing off spells at them, though now, all seven are firing spells as the weight of the barrage had forced all of Harry's bodyguards to focus on shielding instead of sending offensive spells, and waved his hand at them.

Almost immediately, all seven aurors were swept aside, as if a powerful wind blowing from their right hand side had enough force to lift them from their feet and deposit them some ten feet away. Of course, the alley where the aurors were standing was rather narrow and the aftermath of the attack saw the seven aurors piled at each other while hugging the ground and the wall that they hit.

The quick take down of the people who are supposed to be the elite of the Magical World made the civilians pause in wonder. Some of them wondered what kind of spell was used to send the aurors flying, while a few openly remarked that no one among the surrounded dark-robes had fired a spell, just their apparent leader waving his hand.

It was at that moment that the bravery instilled in every witch and wizard in Magical Britain brought about by the downfall of the Dark Lord Voldemort failed. Panic descended around the villagers who were but moments ago casting offensive spells against Harry and his people, and they started to run in all directions in reaction to the take down of the seven aurors.

With a curt motion of his head, the bodyguards of Harry opened a path for him and the man who was once labeled as the boy-who-lived calmly and deliberately walked out of the path made by his moving bodyguards, finding himself in front of the pile of aurors that he had just swept away. None of the seven are dead, critically injured, yes, but all of them are still breathing, and it was a condition that Harry has no plan of allowing to continue.

Without his hand even moving, the elder wand found itself in the hands of Harry. Sparks were flying as the wand flew from the wrist holster where it was being held. Harry – and everyone within five meters – can feel the power that was singing from within the elder as the wand anticipated more blood.

Harry, having collected all three Hallows which should make him Master of Death, knows that Death does not like to be cheated. He created the three Hallows as a method for him to take the lives of the three brothers of the story, but Death is also a practical being.

Why give one man something that would ensure his death when you can give one man something that would not only ensure his death, but the death of others? That was the Elder Wand, the most powerful, unbeatable wand in existence. A wand meant to kill so that Death can collect far more than his share.

In order to influence the owner of the wand to kill, Death had built a fail-safe into the wand. Its real power can only be brought about by sacrificing lives to it. The last owner of the wand – Draco Malfoy – was, despite all his boasts, nothing more but a scared kid who was way in over his head. He thinks that he can kill, but he cannot, and that is the reason why the wand lost much of its power when the younger Malfoy was its master.

The deaths sacrificed by Voldemort to the wand had helped the wand retain its power, but Voldemort was never the master, and much as the wand wished it, can never be the master.

Harry turned his attention toward the disabled aurors at the same time that he banished the thoughts about the real secret of the Elder Wand to the back of his mind. He was still searching for records of the people that his old Headmaster had killed using the Elder Wand, and Harry strongly suspects that the cells of Azkaban and Numengard had been nothing more but holding cells for the sacrifices for the wand.

Harry raised the wand toward the aurors, his bodyguards helping them to their feet only to push them back to their knees as they dragged the doomed witches and wizards to form a line in front of Harry. With his wand raised, Harry positioned himself in front of the first auror and closed his eyes.

His eyes closed precluded Harry from seeing the look of recognition on the face of the doomed wizard, a look that was easily replaced by fear as he sensed his end coming from the tip of the wand. Without Harry even opening his eyes, a jet of green light shot from the tip of the Elder Wand, hitting the doomed auror straight in the chest, resulting to screams of terror and horror escaping from the throat of the wizard for a full five seconds before it ceased as death took hold of the soul that once inhabited the now empty husk.

The remaining six aurors watched with morbid fascination as a white mist came from within the body of their colleague. They watched as said white mist attempted to rise to the heavens, and they watched as said white mist was sucked – as if it was a vacuum – into the tip of the wand. A shout of frustration erupted, seemingly coming from within the mist, before the mist disappeared.

Harry opened his eyes at that moment and regarded the empty husk that was swiftly turning black before he turned his head toward the next auror in line. The remaining aurors – realizing the fate that is about to befall them – tried to free themselves, but they had belatedly realized that they, from the neck down, had been hit with a binding charm.

Without saying anything, Harry moved sideward toward the next unfortunate in line, and once more he closed his eyes before the jet of green light the unfortunate wizard straight in the chest, repeating the process all over again.

A few hundred meters away from where Harry was feeding his wand, Hermione had just dodged a stunning spell before replying with a powerful bone banishing curse aimed at the lower extremities of her opponent. The curse hit, and all of the bones of the witch in her legs disappeared, which resulted to her stumbling and hitting the ground with her nose. Hermione quickly snapped the wand of the witch by stepping on it, making sure that it was truly broken, before she turned her attention back toward the fighting, once more trying to understand why the dark-robed attackers refuse to attack her with anything more powerful than a disarming hex and a stunning curse.

A fusillade of red beams of light nearly caught Hermione as she was trying to cross one of the alleys that mark Hogsmeade. She jumped back just in time to evade the fusillade of curses coming toward her and once more wondered why the attackers are only trying to stun her.

Hermione knew that if those spells had been one of the three unforgivable, she would be hit. She also knew that if those spells had been one of the few lethal curses that the dark robes had been using since they began their attack, she would have been hit, yet, it would appear that none of them intends to do harm to her, they just want to capture her, and for some reason, it frustrated Hermione.

Hermione jumping back had allowed her to evade the curse, but she stumbled a few moments later as her jumping resulted to her tripping on a corpse. Hermione looked at what made her stumble and her eyes widened as she saw that the corpse that had made her stumble was that of a young girl, probably no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, judging from the fact that she was wearing Hogwarts robes.

A tear escaped from the eyes of Hermione as she gently knelt on one leg before the dead girl. Using her left hand, she gently closed the eyes of the dead girl – for they were still open – and said a short prayer before she pushed herself back to her feet, even more determined to drive away the attackers.

At that moment, Hermione suddenly heard a voice from behind her shout, "Freeze!"

Hermione spun on her heel at the same time that she ducked, resulting to her crouching, but with her wand held up, as she faced the person who yelled for her to freeze. Realizing that it was a dark robe who had commanded her, Hermione quickly sent a powerful bone-banishing curse at the dark robe which impacted the unknown attacker at his chest, banishing his ribcage and resulting to his internal organs turning into mash as what was holding them up disappeared. He was dead even before he realized what had happened and his corpse stumbled into the ground face first.

Hermione fought the urge to curse as she pushed herself to her feet. The road was filled with dead bodies, some of them wearing the dark robes of the attackers, but a great many wearing civilian clothes. There were also two students among the dead here, not counting the young girl that Hermione had just prayed over. Shaking her head angrily, the relatively young woman turned her attention toward the man that she had just killed and again wondered why he called for her to freeze rather than attack her.

Hermione knew that if the man had attacked her, she would probably already be dead as she did not even notice that there was someone behind her until the moment that she heard his voice.

A scream of terror tore Hermione out of his reverie and she turned her attention toward her right, toward the castle, and toward where she had heard the scream of terror. Fighting back the urge to run away to the opposite direction of the scream, Hermione steeled her resolve and quickly made her way toward the direction of the scream.

**Hill overlooking Hogsmeade Village**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

There was an uncomfortable silence echoing around the hill as Alex York continued to watch the battle from his vantage point with his arms crossed over his chest. Beside him, Emma maintained her silent vigil as well, not opening her mouth ever since she asked Alex, 'if it was me down there, would you be as patient as you are right now?', and that was more than five minutes ago.

Around them, the bodyguards assigned to Alex also kept silent vigil, their attention projected outward as they scanned all approaches to where the person that they are protecting is standing with vigilance that would probably put the late Master Auror Alastor Moody to shame.

Suddenly, Alex sighed as he turned his attention toward Emma at the same time that a smirk came across her beautiful face. Without any preamble, Alex said, "You already know the answer to that," an ironic smile came across his face, "After all, I am here aren't I?"

Emma shook her head as she regarded Alex, "That does not answer the question, you know," she said, she matched the ironic smile on the face of Alex with one of her own as she added, "The fact that you are here proved what I had already known and would have taken on faith, but the fact that you are here does not answer whether or not you would be as patient as you are right now if I was in the place of Hermione and you were in the place of Harry"

Alex shook his head before he turned his attention back toward the battle. He watched with a silent smile forming on his face as Harry performed the ritual that would increase the power of the Elder Wand on a group of captured aurors and would have said something had Emma not interrupted his watching by placing her hand on his shoulder as he said, "If he is going to close his eyes every time he kills someone, he is not going to grow up"

"Unfortunately, killing someone was a lesson that you learned early and you learned well," Emma commented under her breath, though she was sure that Alex heard it, she sighed before continuing, "Hermione"

Alex and Emma watched as the relatively young woman was nearly clipped by stunners, and would have been clipped had it not been for the fact that she jumped back to avoid the jets of red light. Alex and Emma watched in silence as Hermione knelt before the dead girl and gently closed her eyes, only to be interrupted by the scream of horror coming from the doomed aurors that were kneeling in front of Harry.

"She's going," Emma commented under her breath, and sure enough, Hermione was running toward the direction where the screams came from even as the aurors and civilians started to move away, though that probably has something to do with the fact that the dark robes are pushing them away.

Alex and Emma watched as Hermione sent two black robes that were about to intercept her flying toward the direction where they came from with overpowered banishing charms. Alex nearly smiled at the creativity being shown by the girl, but before the smile can reach his face, he shook his head as he reminded himself that creativity is to be expected from Hermione. Not only is she a muggle-born – hence, they have better imagination – she is also several generations older than Alex. She is free from the limits imposed by the humorless generation that Alex belonged to.

"This is going to be interesting," Emma commented under her breath as she continued to watch Hermione making her way toward where Harry was, not that Hermione is aware of that, of course, she is running toward that direction because she is being compelled, and much as Hermione would claim that the screams of terror is the one compelling her, that is not the truth. There is something else in play right now. Something that not even Hermione, despite the fact that she is the one feeling it, would be able to name.

Hermione sent two more Knights flying with her overpowered banishing charms at the same time that Emma turned toward Alex, "Are the things going to appear?" she asked.

"They will," Alex assured Emma before turning his attention back toward Harry and Hermione. They are so close now, barely two blocks away from each other, and Alex could almost smile as he imagined the face of Hermione. He turned toward Emma and whispered, "I would love to be there when they finally see each other after so many years," he smiled, "Well," he amended, remembering that Harry had been watching over Hermione, "when she sees him again after so many years"

Emma scoffed, "It's amazing that you still consider yourself a romantic," she said, "After taking into consideration whom we serve"

Alex frowned, "You serve him, my love," he replied, and attached to his voice was something that made even his disciplined bodyguards turn toward him with a frown, emotion, a tender emotion that was gone the next moment he spoke as he added, "I do not, he promised me that he would return the most important thing that happened in my life, and for that, I do his bidding, but I do not serve him,"

Emma frowned as well and was about to reply, but before she can open her mouth, Alex forestalled her by raising his hand in the universal stopping motion before pointing toward Harry, and Emma turned her attention toward the Man-who-Won just as Hermione turned to regard him.

**Hogsmeade**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

Hermione blinked as he saw the face of the man in front of her, standing before the last auror in the group, an auror whose face was masked with terror as he looked straight into the deep green eyes of the man in front of him.

Using her peripheral vision, Hermione regarded the large man-shaped black objects on the ground and she knew at once what those are. Fighting back the urge to vomit, Hermione reminded herself that there are a couple of unsolved cases involving her office where the victims had all turned into something similar to the large, man-shaped black objects that she is seeing.

Never, however, never in a million years did she imagine that it would be her Harry –'_yes, he is my Harry,'_ the subconscious of Hermione was screaming at her – who would be responsible for those deaths.

As Hermione was going through disbelief, Harry – who had turned her attention toward Hermione at the same moment that Hermione saw him, compelled by some unknown, unexplainable force – was blinking, unsure if what he is seeing is reality, or if it was an illusion brought about by the wand that he is holding in his hands in response to what even Harry would label was an overabundance of energy.

At the same time, the bodyguards of Harry whipped their wands out and pointed it toward Hermione. Their action was enough to confirm to Harry that he was not seeing an illusion, and he quickly motioned for his guards to put their wands down as he unconsciously stepped closer toward Hermione, the final member of the seven man auror team that though to ambush him and his bodyguards forgotten as he knelt on the floor.

Harry took two more steps toward Hermione, just as Hermione finally realized that she was not seeing an illusion, she was looking at the man who was once, and forever would be, her best friend, the boy whom she first met when she was eleven years old and had been with for the next seven years before driving him away because of a decision that she made, the man whom, everyday, she wish would come for her.

Hermione might have already made up her mind to marry Ron, but that was a decision brought about by the fact that Harry was not there. In any competition between the two boys, Harry would always win over Ron, and even though it would appear that Harry has more to do with this unknown attack than anyone else, Hermione cannot help but cry at the sight of Harry, of the man that she loves, standing in front of her, looking at her with a surprised expression that shouted to Hermione that he too cannot believe that she is standing in front of him.

It was not the first time that Hermione had lost control of her legs – a certain incident back during their Second Year came to mind, not to mention a frighteningly satisfying incident during their Third Year – but it was the first time that Hermione can remember losing control of her legs in such a spontaneous manner.

Before Hermione can even think of what to do next, she found herself running toward Harry at the same time that his arms opened and he welcomed her with his arms as her cheeks crashed into his chest and tears strolled down from her eyes, through her cheeks, and into the dark clothes that Harry was wearing.

For the first time in so many years, Hermione felt safe, she felt warm, comforted and wanted. It was a feeling that Hermione knew she would never feel in the arms of Ron, and she had looked. There was just something different about the hugs of Harry and no matter what Ron does, Hermione knew the red-haired Weasley would just, well, he just would never be able to compare.

Feeling something wet on the top of her head, Hermione gently removed her cheeks from his chest and he looked up, and saw the tears coming from the eyes of Harry as he regarded her with those gentle green yes that she had missed so much. Unbidden, a smile came across the face of Hermione as she continued to stare into his eyes, and she started laughing. The sound of her laughter appeared contagious and soon, Harry was laughing with her.

The two best friends and former partners stood there for a full minute, basking in the presence of the other even as they subconsciously tightened the hug that they were sharing – as if the one feared that the other would disappear should they allow their hold on the other to lax.

"Harry," Hermione whispered from under her breath, she closed her eyes as she allowed his scent to fill her, allowing that comforting feeling that tells her that she is safe to circulate within her system once more, '_Never again,'_ she told herself, '_I would never leave you again'_

At that moment, Harry closed his eyes, allowing her scent to soothe his emotions. As his mind relaxed, he found himself asking how many times in the past few years had he imagined having Hermione back in his hands again, and how many times had he made his decision to go to her, only to back out as he asked himself that maybe he just is not yet good enough for her.

His eyes closed precluded Harry from seeing the soft pinkish white glow that surrounded both him and Hermione as the young lady unknowingly – but with the full intent of seeing the vow through – made her promise to herself never to leave Harry again.

After a full minute, Hermione gently pushed herself away from Harry, but no more than arms length, and she stared deep into his eyes. Chocolate brown eyes lost themselves in the deep green of Harry and vice versa and without prompting from any source, the two of them tilted their heads toward the other as their lips reached for what their owners are sure can only be found on the lips of the other. Both Harry and Hermione closed their eyes as their lips reach for the other…

…and their moment was interrupted by the explosion of a nearby house, which caused Harry to turn his attention toward the source of the explosion, just in time to see humanoid creatures swarm from the house – '_probably from some underground hole,'_ Harry mused to himself – and take positions before Harry, their spears – antiquated, yes, but sharp nonetheless – held in ready position as they await the order to charge.

Hermione opened her eyes, ready to complain about the kiss that she was about to receive, but when she saw where Harry was looking – and she smiled in content as she noted that she was still nestled in his arms – she turned and a frown appeared on her face.

Before she can stop herself, Hermione turned toward Harry and asked, "What the hell are the goblins doing here?"

Harry turned toward Hermione and frowned. For more than ten years he had been planning this reunion with Hermione, and one of the things that had received so much attention from him was the first word that he would say to her when they are finally together again. With a sigh, Harry mentally shook his head as he reminded himself that the first casualty of any battle is always the battle plan.

It was, naturally, not the words that Harry wanted to say to Hermione after more than ten years of separation, but given the current conditions that they had found themselves in, Harry consoled himself by mentally telling himself that there is nothing that he could do about it, and with a sigh, Harry told Hermione, "It's a long story," he said.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**SIX**

**Hogsmeade**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

There was a certain calm behind the eyes of Harry as he watched the goblins form their ranks before him. A thin smile came across his face as he reminded himself that he had always foreseen that the goblins are going to be against him, and not because he aspires to be the Conqueror of the Wizarding World.

Hermione was still engulfed in the arms of Harry, but she was also watching the goblin deployment. She saw goblins holding shields – which she knows are highly resistant to any spell other than the killing curse, which would destroy said shield with one shot – forming a line in front of their goblin brethren while goblins wielding spears took position behind their shield-carrying comrades. Turning to look at Harry, she did not even bother to hide the confusion in her face.

Many questions were running around the mind of Hermione Granger at that moment, and asking herself why armed goblins are here in Hogsmeade – against the last Wizard-Goblin Treaty – is not even foremost in her mind. No, what is foremost in her mind is the question of why is Harry here in the first place and why does it appear as if he is the one leading these dark-robed mysterious witches and wizards that are attacking and killing everybody.

Suddenly, the eyes of Hermione widened as she let that last thought go through her incredible brain. She turned to look at Harry with an accusing look in her eyes – not that he turned back at her, he was too busy glaring at the goblins using his eyes while a thin smile of humor was displayed on his mouth – as she suddenly realized the reason why all of the dark-robes attacking her was only attacking her with stunning and other low level spells that are not as lethal as the other curses that they are using against the other defenders.

A shout from within the goblin host tore Hermione out of her reverie and at the same instant, Harry gently pushed her toward his back so that a few moments later, he was standing alone in front of the – Hermione would admit – rather fearsome goblin host.

The bodyguards of Harry moved forward as one, as if they intend to protect Harry – given that that is their jobs, that is probably what they are doing in the first place – but Harry forestalled them by raising his right hand in the universal stopping motion without even looking at them.

The confused bodyguards paused, and Hermione got the distinct impression that the fifteen men and women wanted to look at each other in confusion, but their discipline held out and they instead kept their attention forward.

Hermione frowned, but she was not about to allow Harry to face the goblins alone. Seeing the snarl on the faces of the bankers of the magical world, Hermione is sure that they are not here to discuss Harry's bank accounts, and even if they were, the goblins are not going to risk a treaty violation just to get Harry to talk to them.

Thinking back to her lessons, Hermione knew that goblins are bound by their oaths. They die if they break their word, and that is the reason why everything that a typical Hogwarts student – or any magical student of that matter – knows about the goblin wars is false. Simply put, the goblins cannot start a rebellion after the first treaty, it just is not magically possible as their oaths would claim their lives. Humans, however, well, humans had been breaking their word since they first started to make oaths.

Hermione turned toward Harry and fought the urge to frown. They had been reunited for less than ten minutes and already, there is trouble brewing, trouble that Hermione is sure Harry would not be in had she been with him. Still, Hermione was not about to allow Harry to face the goblins alone, and she started to push herself back to stand beside Harry.

Harry, however, was way stronger than the last time that Hermione had met him. He easily kept her behind him with one hand, but Hermione was insistent. So much so that a few moments later, Harry let out a sigh, and Hermione nearly smirked at the love of her life as she realized that he is going to let her stand by him.

Hermione, however, was mistaken, and Harry signaled for his bodyguards to pull Hermione toward them. Two witches – Harry would not allow any wizard to touch Hermione, if anything, Harry would probably ban any wizard from even gazing at Hermione without his permission – each grabbed a shoulder of Hermione and pulled her – gently – toward them, just as the bodyguards of Harry formed a circle that surrounded Hermione.

Hermione stomped her foot in protest, but since the attention of the bodyguards of Harry are turned outward – and Hermione was inside the circle – no one saw the fuss that she was putting up.

"Harry James Potter," the apparent leader of the goblins – Hermione can still see despite the circle – said as he took a step toward Harry with pride in his bearing. The goblin emissary was holding a scroll of some kind from which he was reading, "For your crimes against the goblin nation, you are hereby named 'Enemy of the Goblin Nation', surrender now and the goblin nation would not declare the last treaty between our nation and the human void"

Hermione turned her attention toward Harry. She had heard of 'Friend of the Goblin Nation', but never had she heard of 'Enemy of the Goblin Nation'. There are, however, other things that she needs to worry about, and the least of which is the fact that if Harry does not surrender, then there would be another goblin rebellion.

Hermione was about to remind Harry of the damage that the last rebellion had done over four hundred years ago, but before she can open her mouth, Harry was already moving. Without even raising his wand, Harry sent a spell toward the goblin emissary and the proud goblin found himself missing his head a few moments later.

A shocked Hermione can only stare in horror as the goblins watched their emissary fall on the ground without his head. To the goblins, emissaries are supposed to be sacrosanct and cannot be attacked even during battles.

"You think I care about what your pitiful nation has to say about me?" Harry asked, and his voice was deeper than Hermione had ever remembered, but there was still a hint of the Harry that she grew up with in there. Harry scoffed toward the direction of the goblins, "You are weak, not even worth my time"

'_What did you do that earned you the ire of the goblin nation, my love?'_ Hermione silently asked, imagining that Harry is hearing the question. Of course, that was wishful thinking.

At that moment, the goblins – commanded by their captains – charged forward, their ten foot long spears pointed toward Harry, but the man who was once the boy that destroyed the wizard that was supposed to be the most powerful Dark Lord in history just stood there with a smirk on his face.

As the spears were about to make contact and pierce the body of Harry, a powerful shield suddenly snapped into place around Harry and the goblin spears found their spears broken in two. They turned their attention toward Harry with incredulous expressions as this is the first time that a goblin made weapon had been destroyed, but that was the mistake that they would never live to regret.

Their momentary distraction brought about by their weapons breaking into two was all the distraction that Harry needed in order to move. As if he was apparating, he disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared just beside the senior goblin captain who was directing the assault.

With a swift movement of his right hand, Harry drew a sword from somewhere and decapitated the senior goblin captain – marked by very ornate armor that, despite its gaudy appearance, was actually a fully functional battle armor, albeit it is made of silver with hints of gold – with one stroke.

Before the goblins even realized what was happening, Harry had already decapitated their entire senior leadership, leaving command of the goblin column in the hands of the goblin lieutenants who are mixed in with their formation.

Hermione was the first one to notice where Harry was and her eyes widened as she saw him. It was the first time that Hermione noticed the clothes that Harry was wearing – '_So, I was distracted by his appearance,_' Hermione told herself – and while she already knew that Harry would be wearing the same dark robes as the attackers of Hogsmeade, that dark robe was now stained nearly silver as Harry bathed in goblin blood.

For a few moments, Hermione shuddered at the near-monster that her Harry had become. For a few moments, there was a hint of hesitation in her being, but it was a hint that was mercilessly crushed by Hermione's subconscious as she stared at Harry. Her subconscious screamed at her that whatever it is that Harry had done, she would stand by him, if only to comfort him after the deed and to convince him that he need not do what he had done again.

At that moment, the goblin column turned their attention behind them, and found themselves in an unbelievably unenviable position. Not only are their leaders dead, their formation is facing the wrong direction, with their shields behind the formation and their swordsmen in front of the formation. The goblin lieutenants – most of whom are swordsmen positioned at what was supposed to be their reserve line – knew that there is no time to reorganize the formation and realized that the best chance of victory is to swarm their single opponent.

Before the order could be given, however, Harry smirked toward the goblins and he made a quick diagonal motion with his sword. Silver goblin blood flew off the blade of the weapon, and a cry of disbelief, shock, and outrage resonated from the goblin host as they saw the weapon that Harry was holding.

Using a goblin-made weapon to kill goblins is a death sentence if the offender is a human, but that was not what outraged the goblin host, what outraged them was the weapon itself, or rather, the knowledge of where that weapon came from.

Most goblin-made weapons have whitish-gray blades that reflected the color of the minerals used by the goblins to forge their weapons, but the weapon that Harry was holding was pure silver. It had nothing to do with the minerals used to forge the weapon, it had something to do with what the sword was splashed with in its nearly two thousand years of existence, the blood of all the goblins that the weapon had slaughtered when it was still in the hands of the leader of the goblin nation.

The fact that Harry took the weapon from the cold, dead hands of Ragnok, was only one reason why Harry is an enemy, but Harry had long been declared person-non-grata in Gringotts before that incident.

A collective cry of shout came from the assembled goblins as they broke formation and charged at Harry. A small corner of the mind of Harry noted that the goblin shields that would have given even him a hard time had been dropped as all goblins in the host drew their swords.

At first, Harry was calmly walking toward the charging host, but as he continued to walk, he picked up pace and soon, he was running almost as fast as the goblins, and the rather unequal – in terms of numbers – battle began as the two opposing forces crashed into each other.

Normally, the small stature of the goblins would have helped them evade the strokes of Harry, but the weapon that Harry was using was meant to kill goblins, and it had been doing so for nearly two millenniums. It had consumed so much goblin blood that, for one reason or another, any goblin hit by even just the wind produced by the sword cutting through the wind is enough to kill the goblin. In short, Harry does not even need to land a strike in order to kill his current opponents, though – probably because of the fact that the blade had tasted human blood in the hands of its last goblin handler and in the hands of Harry as well – Harry had to be careful as now, the sword also kills humans.

Still, Harry only needed one stroke to take out a goblin, and even if the goblins outnumber him, he used the goblin tendency to pick up one-on-one duels whenever possible. Harry, despite his power, had no illusions that if the goblins attacked him as one, he would probably be forced to withdraw – '_withdraw, not defeated_,' he told himself – but the goblins are too honor-bound to work together against one opponent.

In short, the other goblins surrounded Harry, sending one goblin after another to try to get the better of him, and in less than ten minutes, more than a hundred goblin bodies – almost all of them cut in two – are piled high all around the man who was once the boy-who-lived, as his sword and dark robes shone silver thanks to the amount of goblin blood spilt.

Ten more minutes later, the battle with the goblins was over as Harry decided to spare the last goblin – a lowly goblin whose lack of scars announced to Harry that this one was participating in his first combat – and sent him scurrying back to Gringotts with his proverbial tail between his legs.

As the goblin disappeared, Harry let out one sigh and looked around him. A feral smile came across his face that Hermione saw – and the smile made her shudder as it reminded her of some of the mindless beasts that she had to study as part of her Care of Magical Creatures NEWT in her seventh year, magical creatures that are aptly described as monsters that only exist to kill – and she decided to comfort Harry then and there, but was prevented from doing so by the circle of dark robes tightening around her.

Hermione thought to glare at the dark robes and scream at them to let her out so that she can go to Harry. It does not matter that his sword and his robes are gleaming silver with the spilt goblin blood, she just wants to go to Harry and engulf him with a hug, but the dark robes would not let her, and no matter how loud she complains, they would not budge, they would not even deign to look at her as she was protesting.

**Hill overlooking Hogsmeade Village**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

There was a smile on the face of Alex as he continued to watch the attack on the magical village. The smile turned almost feral when he saw the goblins forming before Harry and he turned his attention toward Emma before saying, "I told you they come"

Emma frowned, "You know, not once have I doubted you," she replied, her frown turning to a smile as she regarded her lover, "It had always surprised me, however, how far you have taken the orders that _my_ master had given you"

Alex frowned at the 'my' in her last words, but chose not to make a fuss of it. They may be lovers, but Emma was faithful in her service to her master, even if that faith was something that was only incidental to the reason that Emma is his servant. That faith was also one thing that makes Alex very angry with her master as he had always felt that the undying loyalty of Emma should be to him and to him alone.

Emma knows that very well, and had always assured Alex that while she remains a faithful servant to her master, her undying loyalty is to Alex. It always brings a smile on the face of Alex every time she says that, as he contends that she cannot give him her undying loyalty if she is faithful to another.

Mentally shaking his head, Alex turned his attention back to the matters at hand. With a sigh, he turned his attention back to the village just as Harry decapitated the senior goblin captain – Alex recognized him as one of the sons of Ragnok with his first mate – and went on to slaughter the leadership of the goblins sent to apprehend him, "Revenge is not a dish best served cold, my love, it is best served hot, and preferably, with the blood of your enemies"

As he said that, his eyes scanned the buildings in the village. His dark brown eyes narrowed as he espied one particular building off the main road of Hogsmeade where the defenders appear to be regrouping before he said, "One tormentor is there, I would have his head before all this is over"

Beside him, Emma laughed. It was such a gentle laugh that for a few moments, Alex found himself not observing a battle, but rather, back when he was still a student in a castle located not far from where he is standing at right now, back when he and Emma were just two normal kids about to embark on their life journey.

Before a smile of reminiscing can come across his face, Alex violently shook his head, "I don't think this is the time for you to remind me of our past, my love," he said, his face turning into a frown.

Emma was about to complain that she was not doing anything, but before she can do so, Alex motioned for her to look at where he was looking. She did so and a smile came across her face, "Minerva," she said, "it has been such a long time," she turned toward Alex, "Shall we greet her?"

Alex nodded, "Let's," he said, before the two of them suddenly disappeared as silent as the night.

**Hogsmeade**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

Minerva McGonagall was already four years past the century mark, but she still moved as spry as a woman half her age. Her magic had something to do with it as magical creatures – such as wizards and witches – always live longer.

She was also widely acknowledged as one of the most powerful witches in the world right now. True, she does not come close to the power displayed by Professor Dumbledore, but she was still more powerful than an average person half her age.

This was the reason why she did not even have a hard time defeating those dark robes foolish enough to try to take her down. Like Dumbledore, the Headmistress refused to kill, finishing her duels with the attackers by binding them, stunning them beforehand with the new variant of the stunning hex that cannot be removed by anyone other than trained medi-witches.

She was leading a group of twenty other defenders when they first saw the decapitated goblin body, and for a few moments, McGonagall frowned as she realized the implication of finding a dead goblin body in the middle of Hogsmeade moments after she had forced quite a substantial number of dark-robe attackers to retreat.

Unlike most British magical citizens, McGonagall was well aware that goblins cannot violate oaths, having a half-goblin named Filius Flitwick as her deputy minister for more than ten years, and more than a half century as a partner before that, the Headmistress of Hogwarts was well aware of the incapability of the goblins to live after breaking oath.

At the far corner of her left eye, the Headmistress saw an approaching group, and she turned her attention there with her wand raised, ready to fire, though she lowered it a moment later as she recognized Flitwick running toward her.

The diminutive Charms professor of Hogwarts was leading his own group of twenty defenders, though it was obvious that they had suffered casualties as McGonagall can see that Flitwick only has seventeen left in his group.

Seeing the decapitated goblin made Flitwick frown, but before he can say anything, another group of defenders – this one led by Pomona Sprout – rejoined them, quickly followed by a group led by Professor Sinistra and another led by Professor Vector.

Finally, a group led by Professor Isaac Blake arrived before Flitwick asked the Headmistress why there is a decapitated goblin lying in the corner of the road.

McGonagall was about to say that she has no idea why there is a goblin in Hogsmeade, let alone a decapitated one when they were again disturbed by the arrival of at least thirty additional aurors, led by the Senior Undersecretary of the Minister, Draco Lucius Malfoy.

The Headmistress – and her senior staff – turned their attention toward the blond undersecretary and noted that he appeared to be out of injuries. It was fairly obvious that he had not taken part in any fight, though the same cannot be said in regards to the aurors that are accompanying him, most of whom are actually still bleeding from open cuts.

"Headmistress," Draco said as he approached one of his most hated professors – to be fair, Draco only liked two professors in his entire Hogwarts career, his head of house, Severus Snape and his fifth year Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Dolores Umbridge, and he was actually half second thoughts about Snape – "We've just finished pushing back these upstarts from the Ministry, and the Minister thought that you might need help," he said and he voiced those words in such a manner that made the Headmistress want to smack the boy silly.

Fighting back the urge, however, the Headmistress nodded, "Much appreciated, Mr. Malfoy, but, as you can see, we've already pushed them back," she inclined her head toward the direction of the goblin body, "We were just wondering about this goblin"

Typical of most British magical citizens, Draco Malfoy immediately launched with a conclusion, "So, the goblins have decided to break another treaty huh?" he asked rhetorically, a smile coming across his face, "I've always said that those filth would never be content with just running the banks, we should have exterminated them, after all."

The urge to smack the boy silly returned to the Headmistress, though this time, she was not the only one who had that urge and Filius Flitwick was gnashing his teeth in an attempt to stop himself from killing the Senior Undersecretary.

"I see that you are still incapable of opening a book, Malfoy," a voice interrupted. All eyes were turned toward the direction of the voice and not a few fainted as they saw Harry Potter standing before them.

Behind the boy-who-lived are fifteen dark robes surrounding Hermione with their attention turned outward of their circle, and within the circle, was Hermione, who appeared pissed, but was not making any attempts to try to escape what many defenders saw was confinement.

"Mr. Potter," the Headmistress said, even as Filius motioned for her to take note of the goblin blood that was still clinging on the robes of Harry. The Headmistress nodded at the same time that the eyes of Flitwick widened, seeing the sword that Harry was holding.

"That sword…," Flitwick began.

Harry nodded, "Rangok decided to give it to me when he begged for his life," he said with a smile, incensing Flitwick who knew for a fact that the leader of the goblin nation would never beg for his life, "Of course, after I got it, I decided to test it," he smiled, "Pity, he, his latest mate, and their children are the only goblins around, so, I decided to test the sword on them," he laughed, "The blade sang beautifully after it drank their blood"

Flitwick raised his wand toward Harry and fired a powerful curse that was supposed to be a lighter version of the unforgivable cruciatus curse, but before the jet of mud-brown light can hit Harry, it was intercepted by a blue jet of light that came from nowhere. The two spells cancelled each other just as a figure appeared before Harry.

"Now, Filius, that was not very nice," Alex said as he took his position beside Harry.

Headmistress McGonagall – Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout, Vector, and Sinistra – stared at the new arrival. The thoughts of the senior staff of Hogwarts were as one, and it was voiced by the next question of Headmistress McGonagall, "Alex?" she asked.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**SEVEN**

**Hogsmeade**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 21, 2012 CE**

Minevera McGonagall had spent more than ninety years inside the hallowed walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and in the nearly one hundred years that she had been teaching and studying in the great bastion of learning, she had never forgotten a face. From the boy that she sat with during her first trip to Hogwarts – the Hogwarts Express was not yet operational back in 1908, they used carriages – to the faces of the first year students of this year, she had not forgotten a face.

Staring at the face of a smirking Alex York standing in front of her, the Headmistress of Hogwarts School silently remarked to herself that there is no way that she is going to forget his face even if she was a forgetful person.

Standing beside their Headmistress, the senior staff of Hogwarts – Flitwick, Sprout, Vector, and Sinistra – also has frowns mixed with confusion written on their faces. They had entered Hogwarts a few years after their Headmistress, so they remembered the man that Alex York once was as well.

On the other side of the fence, Harry and Alex calmly stared at – in the case of the former – his professors – and in the case of the latter – his former classmates. Both men are wearing smirks on their faces, but the smirk on the face of Alex was much more pronounced, though it was not surprising considering that he knows why his former classmates have frowns mixed in with confusion written on their faces.

Alex was certain that his former classmates are wondering why he still looks only a few years older than the boy who had left in his fifth year instead of appearing as old as – perhaps older than them – he was supposed to be.

There was a slight movement from the camp of the defenders and both Harry and Alex turned their attention toward the source of the movement at the same time that more than fifty other wizards and witches wearing the dark robes of the Knights apparated around the two of them, instantly taking positions to protect their leaders, but a quick hand signal from Harry precluded them from forming a firing line in front of the two men.

Seeing the dark robes defending Harry, Draco Malfoy – as typical of British magical subjects – jumped to a conclusion, though this time, his conclusion was correct, "Potter," he spat, "So you are behind this"

Harry smirked at his former rival, "What if I am, Malfoy?" he asked. In a mocking tone that reminded everyone who had the misfortune of being with Draco Malfoy during his Hogwarts years, Harry asked, "Are you going to complain to your daddy?"

Laughter greeted the words of Harry from his side of the fence at the same time that Draco Malfoy turned an interesting shade of red with embarrassment. Quickly recovering, however, the blond shouted, "In the name of the Ministry, surrender now"

More laughter erupted from the side of the dark robes, but it was also quickly extinguished as Harry raised his right hand in the universal motion for stop. He stared at Draco for a few moments – his face breaking into a slight grin when he saw his former school rival twitch at the intimidating look he was giving him – before he said, "You see, this is one of the reasons why we are in open rebellion against the Ministry," he inclined his head toward Draco at the same time that he pointed at him with his right hand, "This cretin, one who fought for the Dark Lord Voldemort during the last war, is actually Senior Undersecretatry to the Minister, and he got that position with the help of his father, who, I am told, is living in quite a luxury, despite the fact that he was actually thrown into jail once for being a Death Eater," he turned toward Headmistress McGonagall, "Do you see why I am fighting, Headmistress?" he asked rhetorically, "this is not the world that I fought for"

"I understand, Mr. Potter, I really do," Headmistress McGonagall replied, nodding her head, but then she inclined her head toward Alex, "but why are you fighting with him?"

Harry followed where his former transfiguration professor was looking and a smile came across his face as he saw that the current Headmistress of Hogwarts was staring at the man who was his partner. He turned his attention back toward the Headmistress and said, "Yes, I had been informed that you and Alex were classmates during your time in Hogwarts,"

Headmistress McGonagall blinked. Silently, she told herself that she should have seen that Alex York would have poisoned the mind of Harry, but she still pressed on, "Mr. Potter, that man is responsible for Tom Riddle becoming Voldemort," he said, "It was by his actions that Tom Riddle became the man who killed your parents, I…,"

Whatever it was that the Headmistress was about to say was cut off when all the windows surrounding them shattered as the magic of Harry demanded that she stop. Headmistress McGonagall and her senior staff turned their attention toward Harry, but they kept their peripheral vision at Alex, and they all saw the smirk on the face of their former schoolmate.

"Ah yes, the official story," Alex said, smirking as he took a few steps forward so that he was standing beside Harry. The defenders noted that the man was not holding a wand, but those that know Alex York reminded themselves that – even at the age of eleven – Alex York never needed a wand to project his magic.

"Alex," Flitwick said, "If you did not kill her, then Tom would have never become Voldemort"

Alex smirked, "I know, I know," he said, mocking his former underclassman with a tone that hinted on understanding that they cannot understand what is already in front of them, "that is the official story"

"You fled the scene of the crime," McGonagall said, screaming at her former classmate, "Just because she became Tom's girlfriend does not mean that you should have killed her, just because she said 'no' to you does not give you the right to deny her happiness with a talented young man," fixing her classmate a look of contempt, the Headmistress added, "The responsibility for the two Blood Wars can be placed at your lap, York, and there is nothing that you can do to wash your hands of the blood that was spilled during those dark years"

While the Headmistress and the Deputy Headmaster was trading words with their former schoolmate, Pomona Sprout – who entered Hogwarts three years after the Headmistress – was watching any reaction from the face of Harry. The Herbology professor was quite certain that if the man whose parents were killed by the Dark Lord is made aware that Alex York was responsible for the creation of Voldemort, Harry would turn on the man who appears to be his comrade right now.

To the surprise of Pomona Sprout, however, Harry was watching the conversation with a bored look on his face and an expression that clearly said that he cannot wait till the conversation is over so that they can start fighting again.

The reason for the bored look on the face of Harry was simple. He had heard of all of this before from Alex, and while what Alex had told him was different from what the Headmistress was saying right now – not surprising considering the nature of the tale – Harry trusts Alex. In any case, Harry has read the official case report of the particular incident in question.

There are many things in that report that supported Alex, but the most important argument in favor of Alex was the fact that the girl who was supposed to have been killed during that incident, well, Harry met her just a few hours ago.

If Alex was the one who really killed the girl who was supposed to be the girlfriend of Tom Riddle, then why is that same girl still alive and, more importantly, why is that girl playing the piano while being accompanied by a violin in the hands of Alex in the main ballroom of Potter manor just a few hours ago?

"Alex," Harry said, interrupting the conversation between the former schoolmates.

Alex turned toward Harry and politely inclined his head toward the younger man, "Forgive me," he said, then with a smirk, he added, "Even the supposed educators in this country are easily swayed by official reports, but, I guess we should not find it surprising, considering that a proud Death Eater," – and with this, he inclined his head toward Draco Mafloy, which caused the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister to open his mouth in preparation to rant – "not only was pardoned, but actually has the ear of the Minister"

"How dare you, you mudblood!" Draco shouted.

A sharp gust of wind buffeted Malfoy as soon as he finished saying that. The dark brown eyes of Alex flashed dangerously at the same time that the powerful gust of wind increased in intensity and in after two seconds, Malfoy found himself flying, though his trip was cut short when the gust of wind died down. Instead, he found himself lying on the road of Hogsmeade with two broken arms, a broken left leg, and a bleeding nose sustained after a twenty foot drop.

"I would advise you to not comment on things that you do not understand, Senior Undersecretary," Alex said, his voice was practically dripping with power as he added, "inbred cretin"

Beside Alex, Harry sighed. With a bored tone, he asked, "Now can we fight?"

Alex smiled, "One last thing before we send the spells flying," he said, he turned his attention away from Harry and toward his former classmate, "Minerva," he said, "remember this, even at the age of eleven, Tom Riddle was already a bastard, and that does not refer only to his birth"

At that moment, spells started flying from the direction of Harry and his followers even as the bodyguards surrounding Hermione tightened their circle around her, precluding her from joining the fight – not that she could contribute much as, while powerful, Hermione has no idea which side she is supposed to be fighting with – or even from just watching. She attempted to push her way out of the human shield, but the black robed bodyguards just would not budge. They would not even turn toward her until the moment that she drew her wand and threatened to curse them if they do not allow her to go out. Faced with such a threat – and with authorization from their master – one of the black robes fired off a less than adequate stunner at Hermione. The jet of red light hit her at the small of her back and she quickly fell unconscious before she was quickly portkeyed out of Hogsmeade and into a waiting room in Potter Manor.

Harry paused long enough to watch the love of his life being evacuated before he turned his attention back toward the developing fight.

Harry sheathed his sword – which, in the case of the magical blade, meant that the weapon disappeared from his person – and drew the elder wand instead. Facing against two aurors – both of whom looked half-ready to run, but they cannot be blamed, after all, they are fighting against Harry Potter, the man who killed Voldemort – Harry quickly dispatched both with a powerful cutting curse that saw both men decapitated.

For his part, Alex just stood where he was standing. He was seemingly observing the fight at close hand, but not one of the more than two dozen aurors and other defenders that tried to reach him can even get past what appears to be a barrier. The barrier was so solid, one of the students would later swear that the barrier can actually support her entire weight.

At the other side of the fence, Headmistress McGonagall quickly dispatched two dark robes with powerful banishing charms that sent the unfortunates doing barrel rolls at eight feet. By the time that they landed, they are already well out of the fight, but because of the height that they are dropping from, they found themselves seriously injured the moment that they hit the ground.

At the side of the Headmistress of Hogwarts, duel master Flitwick was not even bothering with the formal dueling code. He was casting lethal spells every ten seconds, using his diminutive height to perfect advantage as counter-spells merely scythe through the air above him, missing him by several feet. In case one of the dark robes got smart and cast low, his partner – Pomona Sprout – was holding a powerful shield charm over both of them.

At the same time, Hogwarts Arithmancy Professor Septima Vector and Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Isaac Blake had the misfortune of being the first two to encounter Harry on the field.

The leader of the Knights paused long enough to allow the two to send the first spells, but his respect for the two was not enough to allow them to be the ones to cast the second spell. Harry quickly counter-attacked with a powerful organ-expelling curse directed at both professors – he respected them well enough to refrain from killing them – which both professors tried to block. Unfortunately, Harry was using the elder wand and it was literally glowing with power – having had more than two dozen prisoners and aurors sacrificed to it less than an hour ago.

The two jets of yellow light that originated from the tip of Harry's wand crossed through the shield charm of the two professors as if they are not even there and hit them squarely in the chest, causing both to double over while coughing. Harry knew that within a few moments, a random organ would be vomited by both professors, but Harry was not about to allow that to happen, not because he wants to save the two, but because he knew that organ to be expelled is random and it is possible that the organ to be expelled would not hamper their ability to fight.

For that reason, he quickly sent two powerful stunning hexes straight at the doubling over professors. As they are crouching and coughing, neither Professor Vector nor Professor Blake saw the incoming jet of red light which hit them on their foreheads, causing both professors to drop on the ground stunned.

A jet of green light coming from the side of Harry caused him to jump back a few feet. Harry has no illusions, sure he is powerful and he is master of death, but even with his power, the killing curse would still affect him. Every killing curse that hits Harry would be intercepted by the elder wand, but it would be at the cost of a soul. Not Harry's soul, of course, but a soul that had been sacrificed to the wand. Since souls power the elder wand, such a sacrifice would result to the power potential of the wand decreasing by that much.

Fighting back irritation at the thought that someone would cast a killing curse at him, Harry returned fire with his own killing curse toward the offender. The killing curse fired by Harry, however, was not the _Avada Kedavra_ curse. With a small smile, Harry mentally shook his head as he told himself that he would never use that curse. Not because it was the curse that took his parents away from him, rather, it was because the curse was one wasteful curse.

The infamous killing curse kills by separating the soul from the body, leaving behind no injuries or other obvious signs of death. It was, in the opinion of Harry, very wasteful. Why fire an instant kill curse when you can fire a curse that would eventually kill its victim after several minutes of intense suffering, one would rather die than go through it again? Why fire a curse that would separate the soul of a person from his body alone when you can fire a curse that would separate the soul of your victim from his body, then pull said soul into the elder wand so that it can be used as a power source for the most powerful wand in the world?

A jet of pure black light erupted from the tip of the elder wand. The unfortunate auror who tried to ambush Harry with a quick killing curse saw the incoming spell, but much as his mind told him to evade, his body would not respond. It was as if he was stunned, though that was quickly proven false when the jet of black light hit him squarely in the chest. He screamed himself hoarse for the next two minutes before merciful silence took over as his soul was pulled into the narrow confines of the elder wand.

The dying screams of the unfortunate auror drew the attention of almost everyone and for a few moments, the fighting actually stopped as both defenders and black-robed attackers watched the dying man clawing his own skin in an attempt to stop the pain that he was feeling. When the screaming stopped and the white mist that erupted from somewhere within the body was pulled into the elder wand, the fighting resumed, but the high in morale defenders that paused to watch the dying aurors were replaced by dispirited defenders when the fighting started.

Not a few of the aurors and defenders actually removed themselves from the fight, running back to the relative safety of the direction of the castle. Harry, who was watching, had no doubt that they would take refuge within the walls of the castle.

The rout of a great majority of the defenders allowed for the same number of black robes to proceed to the real reason why the Hogsmeade attack was not just a simple raid. Houses were set on fire in order to cover the fact that some black robes had peeled off from their squads – here, Harry grimaced as he remembered Alex's penchant for organizing their units into military hierarchies – in order to scratch runes underneath the cobblestones of the roads of the magical village.

Having never studied Runes before, Harry has no idea what they are for, but Alex assured him that it would guarantee their victory when the time comes.

At the same time that this was happening, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout found themselves faced off against their former schoolmate. For some reason, the barrier surrounding Alex allowed them entry, though it had probably something to do with the fact that Alex wanted to duel with the three of them.

None of the three have any illusions in regards to the capability of their former schoolmate. They all remembered how Alex York had sent Professor Abeforth Dumbledore into retirement, casting several long-term curses at the unfortunate professor that same night that Alex fled Hogwarts.

"Hello, former schoolmates," Alex said as he opened his eyes to find McGonagall in front of him, her wand at her hand as she stared at him with undisguised hostility in her eyes. Flanking McGonagall was Flitwick and Sprout, both of whom also have their wands in their hands and their eyes reflected the same undisguised hostility on the eyes of their Headmistress.

"What did you do to him?" McGonagall asked. Alex followed the line of sight of his former classmate and saw that she was looking at Harry, who had just finished slaughtering four aurors with powerful cutting curses that decapitated the four men.

There was a hint of sadness on the eyes of the Headmistress and, if Alex was honest with himself, he can share the sentiment. It is always sad to see a person change, whether it is for the better or worse. It represented the passing and changing times.

"I did nothing that was not going to happen anyway," Alex said with a smile as he turned his attention toward his former classmate, "Like me, Harry left this world because of one person, like me, he returned to this world for that one person, and, like me, he would destroy this world for that one person," and without warning, the barrier surrounding them became opaque, shielding them from viewing what is happening outside the barrier at the same time that they are shielded from without the barrier.

In a tone of voice that was different from the one that they remembered belonging to Alex – Flitwick swore that it belonged to a demon the moment that he heard it – Alex asked, "Do you think to match your powers against mine?"

The three Hogwarts professor tightened their grips on their wands as they raised it toward Alex. At that moment, Alex was suddenly surrounded by a column of fire, and for a few moments, the view of the three professors was obscured by the flames.

The column of fire disappeared almost as soon as it appeared and the eyes of the three professors dropped when they saw that Alex was not standing alone anymore. There was a familiar figure standing beside him, and the three professors nearly dropped their wands in shock when they realized that the familiar figure standing beside Alex was the girl that he was accused of killing nearly a hundred years ago.

"How?" Sprout asked.

"It's just an illusion," Flitwick screamed from his position. With his wand already raise toward Alex, he fired a powerful cutting curse, but the figure that the half-goblin professor claimed was an illusion quickly placed herself in the path of the curse and with her body, she blocked the curse meant for Alex.

As if to prove that what the Charms Professor and Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts had just claimed was true, the figure appeared to be unaffected by the cutting curse that he had fired.

Pomona Sprout and Minerva McGonagall took that to mean open season on their former schoolmate and more than a dozen curses were being directed toward Alex every ten seconds as the three professors exhausted their magical cores in an attempt to prevent their opponent from firing back.

Alex just stood there, a smile on his face, while the female figure beside him blocked all curses meant for him with her own body. As with the cutting curse fired by Professor Flitwick, no curse appears to affect the figure.

"That's enough," Alex suddenly said, and once more, he was surrounded by flames. When the flames disappeared, he was standing alone again, the figure having disappeared.

The there Hogwarts professors stopped their barrage in order to watch what their former classmate was about to do. That was their near fatal mistake, as the moment that their spells stopped flying, Alex was already flying.

He landed beside Professor Flitwick and, using only his body, he sent the half-goblin Charms professor flying. He did this by delivering a powerful kick to the side of the professor. It was so powerful, the Charms professor would probably have hit the perimeter of the barrier had Alex not suddenly reached out for his former schoolmate and – he was holding the professor by his right hand – he pulled with so much force, the right elbow of Professor Flitwick snapped with an audible sound before Alex finished him off by stomping on his back, eliciting a painful groan from the Charms Professor.

After witnessing the take-down, Minerva and Pomona regrouped at the same time that they prayed that their colleague is alright. Regrouping, of course, was the correct tactical reponse since with the two of them within arms reach, they would be able to counter any physical attack that Alex was going to launch at them, which is why Alex did not attack them physically – add to that is the fact that Alex really does not want to lay his hands on a lady.

Instead, Alex brought himself up to full height as he regarded his two former schoolmates and with a sigh bordering on boredom, he sent close to five dozen different curses hurling toward the two ladies in just less than ten seconds.

Not even Professor Dumbledore can withstand that barrage, and in less than fifteen seconds, both Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout were out of the game. As soon as Alex was sure that his former schoolmates are out, his barrier disappeared. The sight of Hogsmeade burning was what greeted him, but he can also see his rune-masters peeling off from their units in order to etch the runes underneath the roads of the village.

With a grim smile, Alex wondered if anyone truly understood the reason for the runes that he had his men etch, but reminded himself that if they did, they probably would not be etching those runes in the first place, instead, they would probably be ganging up against him. With a mental shrug, he joined Harry – who just dispatched the last auror that was unlucky enough to have remained while his companions retreated toward the relative safety of Hogwarts castle – and said, "We are done here,"

Harry nodded, "We are," he agreed, and his face broke into an excited grin as he added, "I would have left anyway, even if we are not, Hermione, she is waiting for me"

And without another word, the two men disappeared with faint pops of disapparition. It took another ten minutes before the last of the black robe attackers disappeared from Hogsmeade, leaving behind a village on fire and casualties for Ministry reinforcements – organized at Hogwarts and led by the Minister herself – to find.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**EIGHT**

**Potter Manor**

**Kent, England**

**December 22, 2012 CE**

Hermione groggily opened her eyes. The first thing that she noticed was how white her entire surroundings are, but the next thing that she noticed actually flew by her mind as she remembered the events of last night.

Her chest felt heavy as she felt her heart pumping blood at nearly twice the normal rate and without her really noticing it, tears started to fall from her eyes as she remembered Harry. She had always known that he was still alive, the monthly roses on the graves of his parents had proven that to her, but she had never expected that he would come back for her the way that he did, and it was for that reason that, for a few moments as she cried silently in the bed where she was resting, she thought that everything that happened last night had been a dream.

She was fully expecting to wake up in her bed in her flat with the picture of her and Harry – taken during their Fourth Year just a few days after the end of the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament that Harry was forced to compete in and therefore, missing Ron – that was resting on the end table beside her bed to be the only picture of Harry that would greet her.

For a few moments, she also thought about charming her pillow to look like Harry so that she can go to bed every night thinking that he is lying beside her, but the woman who was once touted as the smartest witch of her age was well aware that even if the pillow would look like Harry, it would not be him.

As she laid on her bed thinking about that, her tears continued to fall even when she closed her eyes and found herself praying that the dream that she had just had was the reality. She found herself dreaming that the past ten years of heartbreak when she was away from Harry was nothing more but a dream and that when she opens her eyes, she would find herself lying in her old bed in the girls dormitory of Gryffindor Tower, with Harry waiting for her at the common room.

This time, Hermione swore to herself, she would go with him. What was the use of being alive when the one person who made you alive was not there in the first place? As she pondered the answer to that rhetorical question that she asked herself, she realized that the things that she had been doing up to now, she had not been alive. She had been going through the motions of life with no goal in sight.

Sure, she laughed, she frowned and she presented a good façade to her friends and coworkers that she was still living, but, in the end, she was more dead than alive. The one person who made it all worth it was gone, and for that reason, even as she opened her eyes once more to face the new day, she cried.

When she opened her eyes, however, she blinked and for a few moments the tears stopped falling. This is not her room, of that, she is sure. She gasped as she finally came to terms to the fact that everything that had happened yesterday was not a dream.

She threw herself off of the bed with a wide smile on her face as she told herself over and over again that Harry had came for her. She was back in his arms, and even if right now, that was more figurative than literal, she cannot help but smile at what that meant.

That smile, however, turned to a frown as she remembered the _other_ events that happened last night. She groaned as she found her legs weak and she fell to the floor as it gave way. Tears once more came out of her eyes as she remembered the destruction, death, and chaos that happened last night.

She knew that Harry had something to do with it, he had admitted as much when she was surrounded by his followers on all sides and no matter how much protest she made, they would not budge.

Nothing, however, would keep her away from him anymore, and as she forced herself back to her feet with renewed vigor and strength that she did not even know she possessed, she promised herself that no matter what happens, she would stand by his side. She knew that there is a reason why he is doing this, and Hermione silently promised to herself that she would find that reason and turn the man that she loves away from this self-destructive path.

That decision made, she focused her attention on her location. She absently noted that she was not wearing the same clothes that she was wearing last night, but it strangely did not bother her. Whereas she would have cursed Ron – or even Ginny – for attempting to enter her bedroom while she was changing, she found that she does not really care if Harry sees her completely naked.

She acknowledged that it might have something to do with their adventures during what was supposed to be their final year in Hogwarts, traipsing around the countryside. There had been many times when they saw each other in their underwear and sometimes even without the benefit of any protective clothing.

She supposed that it was just one more thing that she trusted Harry with, and he returned that trust with her.

Allowing her gaze to run around the room, she was struck by how _white_ everything was. The sheets on the four poster bed that she had jumped up from were white, the ceiling and the walls was white, the couches and even the wood used for the bed were finished in white. Aside from the floor – which was mahogany – everything was white, and it somehow imparted into Hermione that this room was new.

She briefly wondered where she is, but realized that it does not really matter, so long as Harry is near. She smiled as her thoughts turned back to their adventures during what was supposed to be their seventh year once more. Half of the time, she was not sure where the two of them are, but she truly did not care, because Harry was there.

There were three doors inside the room, and she guessed that one of them leads to an in-suite bathroom. She quickly discarded the door that was positioned beside two large windows, concluding that that door leads to a verandah or balcony of some kind, though from the way that the sun was shining, Hermione would opt for the latter.

Quickly making her decision, she chose one of the two remaining doors – even the doors were finished in white – and gasped when she saw the bath. It was nearly half the entire size of the first floor of the flat where she is staying, and everything inside the bathroom screamed opulence at her. From the gold lined bathtub that could probably hold two people to the small pool that was positioned beside a high window.

Deciding that there are far more important things to do right now than to stare at shock at the obvious wealth that was being displayed to her, she proceeded to do some necessities inside the bathroom before she exited and turned her attention toward the one door inside her room that she has not tried out yet.

Judging from the fact that the switches that she guessed controlled the lights in the room are mounted on the wall beside the door, this must be the portal that connects this room with the rest of the house and as Hermione is anxious to see Harry – she knew that he was somewhere inside the house – she was nearly running toward the door. Her hand reached for the knob and she attempted to turn it, only for her to find herself frowning a few moments later when she realized that the door was locked.

Her frown deepened a few more moments later when she checked the door that leads to the balcony. Even that door was locked, and since she does not have a wand, there was nothing that she could do to unlock the door. She also knew that even if she had a wand, not even an _alohomora_ spell would open that door, no; she knew that Harry was more talented than that.

She did not even try to disapparate from the room, she knew that Harry had also placed safeguards against that, nor did she try screaming to gain his attention. With a deep frown, she turned her attention back to her bed and allowed herself to drop into it once more. She was disturbed by the fact that she was being kept prisoner here, but if Harry was near – and Hermione knew that he is near – she decided that it was worth it. So, even if she had dropped on her bed with a frown on her face, that frown turned to a smile as she told herself that she is going to meet Harry soon.

**Potter Industries Ltd. **

**London, England**

**December 22, 2012**

Harry did not even bother to turn his attention to the door leading to his opulent office in the top floor of the building that his businesses had purchased for him when he heard the door opening. He knew that there is only one person in the world who would be brazen enough to interrupt him despite the fact that he had left strict orders to his secretary to not let anyone inside his office until he says so.

With a wry smile, he amended that thought to 'there are only two people in the world who would be brazen enough to interrupt him', but Harry knew for a fact that one of those two people is currently ensconced in a room that he had warded himself, it pretty much ensured that there is only one person who would be brazen enough right now.

The truth was, Harry did not isolate himself in his office because he needed the isolation in order to work. Harry rarely work in this office, in fact, the only reason that his secretary recognized him and was following his instructions to the letter is because there is a portrait of him wearing formal clothes in the hallways that leads from the elevator to this suite. Without that portrait, Harry was sure that his own secretary would have thrown him off of the building.

There are two reasons why Harry felt the need to isolate himself, and neither of those has anything to do with the company. The first was the fact that he wanted to drink, and the second was because he cannot drink at home, not when Hermione is there. Sure, he was confident that not even Hermione can break through the wards that he had placed around her room, but he was not confident about himself. He was sure that when he gets drunk, he would charge up the stairs and enter her room just so he can be with her, and, given what had happened the last evening, Harry was sure that Hermione would hate him.

"You know, when we got this building and we got this office for you, we expected you to use this place for work, not to get drunk," a voice to his front said.

Harry turned his attention toward that direction and saw Alex standing there, Emma standing quietly beside him. The two of them looked as if they had stepped out of a business meeting from their clothes as they are both dressed in the finest muggle suits that Harry had ever seen. A smile came across the face of the man-who-won as he regarded his comrade, "It's my office," he complained, "I would do damn well what I want to do inside it"

Alex sighed, he turned toward Emma and a silent message was exchanged between the two of them. She did not look happy with the message, but she nodded once and left the room without any word.

Once she was outside, Alex turned her attention toward Harry and asked, "Tell me what's wrong?"

Harry fixed his comrade a look of irritation, which made Alex smile. The two of them are aware what exactly is wrong, but Alex was still asking. For a few moments, Harry thought about asking his comrade if he was deliberately trying to annoy him, but realized that that is not the purpose of Alex being here. The man had a lot of things to do – as Harry had relegated the everyday running of his business empire to the man in addition to running his own business empire – and Harry is sure that babysitting him was not included in the planner of the man.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked Alex instead of answering his question. There was a hint of irritation in the face of Harry, but that hint of irritation increased when Alex smirked at him instead of answering his question.

Alex briefly considered not answering the posed question, but decided that now is not the time to brew discord amongst the top leadership of the Knights, not when his goals are close to being accomplished, so he turned to face Harry and said, "I wanted to speak with you regarding Hermione"

_That_ was the magic word. Despite the fact that Harry had emptied nearly two large bottles of whiskey – Alex knew that Harry never developed the palate for fire whiskey, preferring the muggle drink than the magically enforced one – he appeared as sober as the day that he fought Voldemort in Hogwarts as he turned his attention toward Alex. There was a questioning look on his face, yes, but there was also a look of pure malevolence that promised pain and retribution to anyone who would even think to harm Hermione.

As he understood the reason behind the flash of anger in the eyes of Harry, Alex smiled. He knew that there was a time when he was younger when he would have reacted the exact same way as Harry was reacting right now if it was Emma who was in danger, and with a mental wry smile to himself, Alex reminded himself that even now, he would still react the same way as Harry.

"Why are you here?" Alex suddenly asked Harry, his voice serious, and his tone brokering no argument that he expected to hear a proper answer, but before Harry can reply, Alex added, "Why are you not beside her right now? Instead of wasting your time here trying to drink yourself to death, should you not be holding her and comforting her?"

Harry smiled an ironic smile at his comrade, "And why do you think would she need comforting?" he asked wryly, he proceeded to empty another glass of brandy as he knew that Alex would not interrupt him. Once the glass was empty, Harry slammed the decanter on the surface in front of him before he turned toward Alex and shot him an accusing look, "Because of the two of us, that's why"

Alex frowned at Harry even as he narrowed his gaze at him. He knew exactly what Harry was talking about, and he did not like it. He also had no problems voicing it out loud, "I had expected that you would be better than this, Harry," he said.

Harry shot Alex an antagonistic look, but the older man ignored Harry, continuing on with his lecture, "You knew as much as I did that our crusade would result to casualties, that there would be a lot of blood in our hands before this is even over," he waved his hand and the glass in front of Harry was suddenly filled once more before he asked, "Why are you hesitating?"

Harry did not reply right away, instead, he fixed Alex a malevolent look that caused the older man to laugh as he realized the reason why Harry is hesitating. He waved his hand and a wine glass appeared in front of him, half-filled with red wine before he asked Harry, "You think she would hate you for this?"

Harry did not answer; he just nodded, causing Alex to continue laughing at him even as he sipped at his glass. For a few moments, Harry glared at his comrade, but knowing that even his most antagonistic glare would not affect the man, Harry decided to speak, "You do not know Hermione," he said, "She hates the thought of innocents suffering, the thought of people dying, damn it, she hates the notion of house-elf slavery despite the fact that elves themselves are trying to dissuade her"

Alex nodded, "I have read the reports Harry and I can read between the lines," he replied, he rested his wine glass on the surface in front of him and fixed Harry a look that caused the young man to shiver, "Do you think all that would matter when the two of you are finally together?"

Harry blinked and he had to admit that he does not know the answer to that question. Since Alex appeared to know the answer to that question, Harry decided to let him answer the question that he posed, and Alex did not disappoint, "Of course it would not matter," he replied, he smiled at Harry, "She hates the thought of innocents suffering, well, my friend, the reason that we exist, the Knights are fighting, is because we want to stop that, she would understand the reason why we did what we did"

Harry emptied his glass again, "I wish I have your confidence," he replied in a low voice, even as he waved his hand once more, his empty glass refilling from the bottle. Alex absently noted that both of the empty bottles resting on the surface in front of Harry were still sealed, but a simple switching spell between the liquid inside the sealed bottle and the air inside the glass would get that effect.

"Damn it, man," Alex said, his tone rising, "She loves you, and that is all that matters, yes?"

"It is not that simple," Harry insisted, his tone matching that of Alex as the two of them glared at each other from their seats, "You do not know her"

"I do not know her, I concede," Alex replied, inclining his head slightly toward Harry, "Yet, I know just how powerful love can be, Harry and I know exactly what foolish things a person can and will do to be with the person that he or she loves," he shook his head, "Did not your former Headmaster tell you that it is one of the most powerful forces in the world?" he smiled at Harry, "I am sure that she would understand"

"Does Emma understand?" Harry suddenly asked.

Alex stiffened at the name that was mentioned, but did not do anything. He looked at Harry for a few moments and he found himself wondering exactly how long he has left before Harry realized that the two of them, Alex and Emma, are playing with him in order to accomplish their own goals.

Mentally shaking his head, Alex told himself that he should not be worrying about that right now, he should be worrying about reuniting Harry and Hermione so that their plan could proceed, so instead of lashing out at Harry about the impropriety of bringing in his Emma into the picture – and not even Alex is sure if bringing her in was proper or improper – he decided to ignore it.

"Ten years," Harry muttered under his breath, causing Alex to look at him again with a questioning look. Harry turned his attention to his comrade and said, "I left her for ten years, Alex, what makes you think she would forgive me just like that," and at that, he snapped his finger, if only to emphasize the fact that it took only a second.

"She would forgive you because she loves you, idiot," Alex replied, for the first time showing his irritation. There was a pause from his side before he sighed and added, "I know that for a fact, Harry, because before I met Emma again, I was under the exact same position as you, and it was more than ten years, we had been apart for nearly fifty years, and I was the one that caused that rift between the two of us, but she forgave me," he fixed Harry a dangerous look and asked, "Are you not that confident with her feelings for you?"

Harry turned his attention toward Alex and fixed him an irritated look. There are many things in life that Harry is not confident about, but his feelings for Hermione are not one of those things. He also had no problem when it comes to her feelings for him; Harry knew that she still loves him.

Harry refused to answer the question, which caused Alex to smile at him, the silence of Harry was the only answer he would need, "Go," Alex said silently, and Harry actually nodded before he stood and was nearly running to the elevator. The office has powerful anti-apparition wards which necessitates his relocation to the apparition point behind the office building.

Once Harry was out of his office, there was a shimmer beside Alex as Emma reappeared. She was frowning at him as she asked him, "Was it really necessary for you to inform him about the two of us?"

Alex frowned at her, but he raised his wine glass toward her in a toasting motion, an action, however, that caused Emma to frown at him before she snatched the glass from his hands. It did not matter that the moment that she did, the glass shattered, spreading its liquid contents all over the expensive rug that was covering the floor, or the fact that some of the shattered glass cut through the hands of both Alex and Emma.

Alex turned his attention toward his cut hand and with a sigh; he willed his magic to heal the cuts. Once that was done, he turned his attention toward Emma, to find her staring at her own hand. There were cuts on her hand, but unlike Alex, there was no bleeding, a fact that caused Alex to frown.

Emma noted the frown on the face of the man that she loves and sighed. Before either of them can say anything, she engulfed him in a hug, and because he was still seated, it was her chin who was resting on the top of his head instead of the other way around, "I love you," Emma said, her voice thick with emotions, "and if me dying had not changed that, Alex, nothing ever would, you silly, silly man"

**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 22, 2012**

Ginny groggily opened her eyes and found herself lying on a bed in the Hospital Wing. For a few moments, she wondered if she was lying on the bed that was reserved for Harry, but reminded herself that that bed was practically a shrine the moment that Harry disappeared from the magical world.

She stretched a bit, moaning as she did so, which caught the attention of the new matron of the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts, Madam Alice Pudifoot, the grand-niece of the patron of Madame Pudifoot's in Hogsmeade, who immediately moved to the bedside of Ginny, "Are you alright, Ms. Wealey?" she asked, "Is there anything you need?"

Ginny shook her head even as the matron checked her over. Once the impromptu check-up was done, the matron of the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts turned toward Ginny and smiled at her before she said, "You're fine, I can release you anytime you wish, Ms. Weasley"

Ginny nodded. She closed her eyes for a few moments in order to relive the events of the past evening, but at seeing all that death and destruction even if she was just remembering, her eyes suddenly opened. She turned her attention toward the matron and asked, "Is everyone else alright?"

For a few moments, the matron looked sad, but she easily recovered her bearings and answered the question of Ginny, "Aside from the senior staff, everyone that had been brought to the Hogwarts are fine," she said, she thought it best not to inform Ginny – at least not right now – of the fact that the same cannot be said about the five hundred or so dead witches and wizards all over Britain.

"What about the senior staff?" Ginny asked, knowing that that adjective refers to the Headmistress of Hogwarts and the professors who have been teaching in the school years before the Headmistress became Headmistress.

Madame Pudifoot shook her head sadly, "They are in St. Mungo's," she admitted, "there was only so much that I can do for them, and it appears that they are in the same condition as Frank and Alice Longbottom from so long ago"

'_In other words, they are in a catatonic state,_' Ginny told herself. She turned her attention away from the matron of the Hospital Wing and toward the door that leads to the castle as she wondered what the hell was happening. She knew that there was a new Dark Lord of some kind on the rise and the person who defeated the last Dark Lord was nowhere in sight.

* * *

**E/N: **I apologize for the very, very long delay in the updates.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

* * *

**NINE**

**Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**Scotland, United Kingdom**

**December 22, 2012**

Ginny walked gingerly into the Office of the Headmistress with a sullen look written on her face, and truth to tell, she was not the only one who was wearing a sullen face as she found herself staring at the gargoyle that serves as the guardian to the entrance of the Office.

The gargoyle was not really doing its job, though from the looks of it, it was not for the lack of trying in the part of the artificial construct. Not only is the pathway to the revolving automatic staircase that leads to the Office of the Headmistress open, Ginny could actually see the revolving staircase moving, which meant that there are people already on the way to the office.

As the Headmistress is incapacitated, it was obvious that whoever it is that is going to her office is not the Headmistress, but right now, Ginny was in no position to worry about the propriety or lack thereof of using the office without the permission of the Headmistress.

Ginny would be the first one to admit that the Office is the perfect place to hold the emergency meeting that the Minister of Magic had demanded the moment that the minister learned that some of those who were present during the attack at Hogsmeade had finally woken up.

It was in a reasonably secluded part of the castle – with students still in the castle and recovering from the shock of having the nearby village attacked as well as losing several of their numbers to the unknown attackers, this was always a welcome case – and at the same time, near enough the scene of the crime to make any cursory investigation of the scene easy enough.

Fighting the urge to sigh, Ginny was about to take a step toward the pathway to the entrance, but at that moment, she heard distinct footsteps heading toward her direction. This aroused her curiosity long enough for her to make the decision to turn her attention toward that direction, and she blinked when she saw two old school friends of her – Neville Longbottom and his wife Luna – approaching her. Both were wearing grim looks on their faces, and it was obvious that they are not going to join the meeting to impart good news.

Ginny was aware that the couple was not present during the attack at Hogsmeade, she was sure that the two were having a romantic interlude at Diagon Alley when the attack took place, and neither had even popped into the village to help, though judging from the way that the two looked and are walking toward her – both are limping, with Luna's right arm being set in a cast and Neville actually twitching, a known after-effect of having been hit by the _cruciatus_ curse – it was obvious that both had been at the thick of something.

It was only after that fact that Ginny remembered that Hogsmeade was not the only target attacked by the mysterious dark-clothed men and women last night. Mentally making a list, Ginny commented to herself that it was actually easier to list the number of magical locations in Britain that were _not_ attacked rather than the opposite, as there would only be one entry in such a list, Hogwarts herself.

Even Gringotts was attacked last night, though the battle for the bank only occurred outside the marble white structure of the goblin bank. Even the smallest enclave had been attacked, but the most horrifying news came straight from Godric's Hallow when it was reported that the monument that was built to commemorate the sacrifice of James and Lily Potter – the old Potter residence in the area – had not been attacked, but was actually set ablaze. There are also reports that the cemetery in the area had been ransacked, with almost all of the graves of wizards and witches being desecrated. It was almost all because the graves of James and Lily Potter were left alone.

Belatedly, Ginny remembered that another reason why this meeting is being held in Hogwarts instead of the Ministry was because the Ministry was in so much chaos, with all offices of the British magical government in disarray as the people who normally work in them are either removing the dead bodies in their offices or are the dead bodies themselves. The Minister, Ginny had heard, would not have the meeting in her office because there are four dead bodies in her office – a senior aide, two auror bodyguards, and a clerk who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Neville politely inclined his head toward the direction of Ginny when the Herbology consultant saw his old friend, but that was the only greeting coming from the couple, as it seemed that the ever optimistic Luna was actually wearing a distraught look on her face. Even when they faced against the Inner Circle of the Dark Lord Voldemort when Ginny and Luna were in their fourth year, Luna had worn a smile.

That she was not wearing a smile was worrying, but it was the fact that Luna did not even greet Ginny, joining her husband instead as they passed Ginny to make their way toward the passageway, that distressed Ginny more than anything.

She, however, never had the time to deal with her distress because at that very moment, Ron advertised his presence, walking – stomping more like – toward the office. Ginny, of course, was aware of the reason why her brother was pissed. Hermione had not been found in either the living or the dead, so it stands to reason that she is still alive, but because she is not already in the castle, then this means that she had been taken prisoner.

_That_ was what Ron was afraid of. Ron had expressed fears of the things that her captors might do to _his_ Hermione to Ginny just this morning, and when Ginny tried to point out to Ron that Hermione can take care of herself, Ron went berserk before going on to rant about how helpless a woman can be. It made Ginny want to smack her brother in the face.

"Come on, Gin, meetings not going to start without us," Ron said as he passed his sister and entered the hallway leading to the revolving stairs. Ginny fought the urge to curse her brother behind his back – though she did come close, already caressing her wand before she realized what she was about to do – and did exactly what his brother had said, she stepped into the hallway and found herself, a few moments later, standing in one of the many landings of the revolving staircase, allowing the magic that made the staircase move in the first place to be the one to bring her to the top floor instead of having to climb the stairs herself.

As Ginny had expected, the door to the office was open and inside was already seated those who were invited to take part in this meeting. Ginny was not surprised that she was included amongst those that have been called. After all, she, her brother, Neville, and Luna are the only available members of the leadership of the DA, and, given the fact that the senior staff of Hogwarts is all incapacitated, they are also de-facto in command of the Order of the Phoenix.

Ginny was surprised about the presence of Draco Malfoy, but given that he is now Senior Undersecretary, she realized that she should not have been surprised. Instead, Ginny took delight at the fact that one of the worst Slytherin students she ever had the misfortune of meeting looked as if a horde of elephants had trampled over him.

Of course, Minister of Magic Rolanda Proudfoot was at hand, and she was actually seated behind the desk of the Headmistress, ignoring the frowns being shot at her direction by the portraits of the former heads. Ginny noted that Albus Dumbledore was not amongst those who are doing so, but then again, the portrait of the Headmaster of Hogwarts back when Ginny was still a student looked as if he was contemplating other more important things.

"Ah, Ms. Weasley," the minister said upon seeing Ginny, she motioned for Ginny to take a seat before she turned toward Draco Malfoy and said, "I think everyone is present."

Draco nodded, "Yes Minister," he replied, before he shot his former classmates – and, given that Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater, his former enemies – a look that hid none of his irritation. In a small voice, he commented under his breath, "We would have started earlier if you lazy beggars got here earlier,"

Everyone – even the Minister – pretended not to hear the last statement that came from the mouth of the Senior Undersecretary, though it was for a variety of reasons. For Ginny, it was because she was planning on not only hexing the bastard as he delivers his report – he is one of the few who were present when the leader of the black robes attacked and incapacitated the senior staff – but also to discredit the man and ruin his reputation by suggesting that Draco actually has something to do with the attack.

"Mr. Malfoy," the Minister began, "your report please"

The original plan was to get Draco to deliver his report last, after all, the Minister wanted to hear all the reports before all hell breaks loose, and she is certain that the contents of the report of her Undersecretary would unlatch the gates of hell, but because of the less than friendly – in fact, they are probably openly hostile – stares being thrown toward the direction of Draco, she decided to have him deliver his report and, if necessary, whisk him out of the office as soon as possible.

Draco showed surprise that he was being called first, but as always, there was nothing that he could do, so he just shrugged and with a sigh, he began, "Minister, as you know, I was present during the attack of the leader of the Black Robes, and I had seen his face," he said. For dramatic effect, he paused, using that time to stare deep into the eyes of the two other men and two other women in the room – no doubt finding them hostile to him – before he continued, "It was Harry Potter."

As the Minister had expected, there was bedlam when his Undersecretary announced the name, she herself disagreed with the report, but when she saw the pensieve memory that Draco had given her, she was convinced. As she thought about it, the more it made sense, since a hero like Harry Potter would not leave the magical world like that for no reason at all, and in the mind of the Minister, the reason was simple.

The Man-who-Won was building a powerbase outside the magical world, outside the jurisdiction of the Ministry for a take-over. Like all pureblood witches and wizards, Minister Proudfoot was of the opinion that the muggles do not deserve her attention, and now, she is paying for this, as Harry Potter obviously used that to build an army away from the gaze of the Ministry, an army that the Ministry now has to fight if they wish to prevent Harry Potter from becoming their ruler.

One thing that did not seem to cross the mind of the Minister was the fact that Harry Potter could have become Minister of Magic without having to resort to such means because of his popularity and power. If it did, then the Minister must not have paid that much attention to it.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the Minister said a few moments after allowing the bedlam to continue, she also spotted Ginny Weasley about to pull her wand and she had no doubt that the red-haired girl would curse the living daylights out of her undersecretary, though she also noticed that Luna was not really saying anything, just seating beside her husband and holding his hand.

"Mrs. Longbottom?" Minister Proudfoot asked a few moments after the bedlam had ended. The Minister noted that Ginny was still holding her wand, though at that moment, she does not appear to be getting ready to curse someone.

Her name being called perked Luna out of her self-imposed silence. She turned her attention toward the Minister just in time to watch the Minister as she asked, "What are your thoughts regarding this matter?"

Luna paused for a few moments, using that time to look at the faces of her comrades during the last war. She noted that her husband, her best friend, and the brother of her best friend were all looking at her with expectant faces, as if they were expecting her to clear Harry of any wrong doing, but in truth, she cannot do that. Not only does she not have the power to do so, she would be presenting false information, and she had a feeling that Harry would not want her to do that.

Going against her husband was something that Luna was not used to, but that was mostly because Neville never really ordered Luna to do anything before. Right now, he was practically ordering his wife to lie for Harry, but Luna was not going to do that.

"It was Harry," she confirmed a few moments later, noting that there were dismayed looks on the faces of her friends, just as there are shocked looks. Before anyone can say anything, Luna quickly added, "And yes, he is acting, mostly, of his own accord," she shook her head and added, "We all made mistakes during the last war. Harry, Hermione, you, me, all of us, we made mistakes," she turned toward her husband and saw conflicting emotions written on the face of Neville, prompting her to add, "Now, now we must deal with the consequences of these mistakes"

"Luna, what mistakes did we make?" Ron asked, seriously confused and ready to take offense no matter what the answer that Luna would say is, "We defeated the Dark Lord, restored freedom, surely, those are not mistakes"

Luna shook her head, "Our mistakes are what happened after we defeated the Dark Lord and restored freedom, as you put it," she replied, she shook her head and stared at Ron before she added in an ethereal voice, "If Hermione had gone with Harry, if we truly pursued justice and reformed the world as we believed we would do after the war is over, then none of this would have happened," at that moment, she stood and walked toward the door leading to the entrance of the office. It was only when she was about to step out did she turn to face the others, "Forgive me, I am not feeling well," before she took a step forward, activating the revolving stairs. Neville barely had time to mutter apologies – half-hearted apologies – to everyone before he left to catch up with his wife.

"That was less than helpful," Draco Mafloy commented under his breath.

"On the contrary, Mr. Malfoy," the portrait of Severus Snape – it was only through the intervention of the portrait of Dumbledore that the former Potions Master even got a portrait here – said, forcing his godson to look at him, "It tells us a lot," he turned toward the Minister and asked, "I assume you now know what to do next?"

"Of course, Professor Snape," Minister Proudfoot replied, she turned toward Draco and ordered, "Find out what it was and exactly when was Ms. Granger supposed to go with Mr. Potter, right away,"

Ginny watched in silence and horror as Draco jumped to obey the order of the Minister. She refused to move, shocked into dumbness by the fact that even the Headmasters of Hogwarts believed the report. She realized that she has no choice but to believe in it as well, and therein lies the crux of her problems. If Harry Potter is the new dark lord, then how the hell are they supposed to win this war? The man who is supposed to be protecting them from dark lords is the dark lord himself, after all.

**Potter Manor**

**Kent, England**

**December 22, 2012 CE**

Hermione had to admit that she was bored. It was not a pleasant experience for the young woman to be doing nothing, not when there are a lot of things to do, but she told herself that it is to be expected, after all, she is stuck in this room.

A normal person would have been ranting and raving against the people who had locked her up inside this room by now, but aside from the fact that Hermione has no idea who the people who are holding her captive are and if they are even listening to her, she is also aware that it was by the wishes of Harry that she remains inside this room.

There might not have been any indication that it was Harry who made the order, but even in the absence of physical proof, Hermione was sure. The reason for that is simple enough, she could sense his presence inside this room.

She closed her eyes as she willed herself to rest while seated on the surface of her white four poster bed and allowed her sixth sense to sharpen, momentarily sacrificing her sight in order to sharpen her other senses. She could feel Harry everywhere she turns, she could smell him, she could hear him, and, despite the fact that Harry is physically not here, she could practically touch him whenever she extends her hands forward.

If she were to guess, she would say that her beloved Harry had spent a considerable amount of time inside this room and it was because of that that his very magic seem to permeate from here. Hermione is a witch and had always been very close to Harry, even with the ten year absence, it was not surprising that she could sense his magic inside the room.

For the rest of the afternoon, Hermione had busied herself with thinking about things. She thought mostly about where Harry had been during the past ten years and what has he been doing. She did touch on the subject of Harry leading an army of dark robes last night and torching Hogsmeade, but she reminded herself once more that there must be a reason for that.

A detached part of her mind was telling her – screaming at her, really – that this was not right, that she should hate Harry for causing all those death and all those suffering that she witnessed for herself last night, but it does not matter how loud those screams were, Hermione cannot bring herself to hate Harry.

The loud screams of the detached part of her mind was drowned by the larger part of her mind calmly explaining to her that the last ten years had been hell without Harry, that the last ten years, she had not been alive, merely going through the circumstances of existing, but now that Harry is back, then now, she can be alive again. Right now, it does not really matter how Harry had returned to her, right now, what only matters to Hermione is that he is back.

At that moment, there was a knock at her door, three faint rasping on the surface of the door that she is sure leads to the rest of the house. It was very faint, as if whoever it was on the other side was hesitating, but Hermione still heard it. She cannot help it because at that moment, her eyes were still closed and she was still focused on feeling Harry from single millimeter of the room.  
The fact that she heard the faint knocking was a sure sign that it was Harry who was on the other side of the portal. Hermione instantly opened her eyes and was practically jumping in order to reach the knob on the door. With an economy of movement, she turned the knob, unsurprised that this time, the door opened when but a few hours ago, it was locked.

She pulled the door, instinctively knowing that the door opens that way instead of the other way around, and was presented, for the first time, with the rest of the house where she had been staying since she woke up this morning, possibly far longer.

Hermione noted that it was a lovely house, furnished in friendly colors and was exhibiting a welcoming atmosphere, but at that moment, the house may as well be a garbage dump with the way that Hermione ignored everything.

It was because at that moment, the beautiful brown orbs of Hermione were focused on one specific direction, at one specific person. He was standing right in front of her, wearing a lopsided grin at the same time that his deep green eyes betrayed his worries. It has been more than ten years since she last saw him and as she had expected, there was growth there, but not even a sudden growth spurt on his part could hide the fact that this was the boy that Hermione had been in love with since she was twelve years old.

He still has the same jet black hair, albeit arranged this time, as if he had taken combing lessons for the last ten years since he had disappeared, and the scar appeared fainter despite the fact that it was still there. A smile came across her face, but it was the only sign of her emotions overwhelming her that Hermione exhibited when she saw Harry. Her knees practically gave way at that moment even as her tear ducts finally allowed her to experience the emotion of finding Harry again and tears overwhelmed her eyes.

Without any conscious thought for her part, Hermione threw herself toward Harry, and she would have found herself kissing the floor at that moment had it not been for Harry's lightning fast reflexes – honed by more than six years of training with the sword that he had stolen from the goblins. He reached out just as she was about to hit him and caught him, allowing her chest to hit his even as she rested her chin on his right shoulder, completely unaware that but a few moments ago, she would have lost her balance and probably hit the floor. It was not surprising, she was that excited and emotional about having the boy that she love turn into the man that is now standing in front of her after more than ten years of separation.

"Harry," Hermione moaned from his position. She did not know it, but because she was resting her chin on his shoulder, her mouth was actually very close to his right ear, and while it would not have qualified as a whisper in the strictest interpretation of that term, it was still close enough that the wind that was expelled from within the mouth of Hermione when she spoke tickled his ear.

It reminded Harry that this is the woman that he loves, the woman that he is, in the words of his comrade Alex York, 'willing to kill for, willing to die for, and willing to destroy the world for', and at that moment, Harry realized that nothing else mattered. As long as he has Hermione by his side, nothing would matter, and without any conscious thought for his part, his arms moved. A few moments later found the two of them embracing at where they stand, Harry comforting Hermione, reassuring her without words that he is here, he is real, and that he is not going away again.

Suddenly, Hermione gently pushed herself away from Harry, though it was not an easy feat given that neither of the two is willing to let the other out of his or her arms just yet. There was a negligible distance between the two of them, but it was enough to allow both of them to once more fix their gaze at each other, enough distance for Harry to silently ask Hermione permission, and enough distance for Hermione to give a happy smile toward Harry before she nodded, allowing him that permission, even as she told herself that she should have given him permission a long time ago, then perhaps, none of this would have happened.

Harry smiled in response to receiving that permission, but Hermione never got more than a second to study the smile on the face of Harry, because at that same moment that the boy-who-lived smiled, he slowly tilted his head toward her, slowly decreasing the distance between their lips, and at the last moment, his lips brushed hers. At that moment, nothing else mattered as both Harry and Hermione lost themselves in the sensation of their first kiss with each other.


End file.
